.- 





Class 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



TOPS 

A NEW AMERICAN INDUSTRY 

9 



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A Study 
In the Develop 
Ame 

Manufacture 



A New 

American 

Industry 






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C A M B R 1 3 

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"TOPS* 

A Study 

In the Development of the 

American Worsted 

Manufacture 

THE ARLINGTON MILLS 



LAWRENCE 
MASSACHUSETTS 




»VlNS * h 



CAMBRIDGE 

(prinfeb at tfyt (Ri&ersfte $vzm 
i 898 



A New 

American 

Industry 




TWO COPIES KECEiVED 






• . 



COPYRIGHT, 1898 
BY ARLINGTON MILLS 



1??'? 



ARLINGTON MILLS, 

LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS. 

A- 

President, 
GEORGE A. NICKERSON. 

Treasurer, 
WILLIAM WHITMAN. 

Assistant Treasurer, 
FRANKLIN W. HOBBS. 

Clerk, 
WILLIAM P. ELLISON. 

Directors, 
GEORGE A. NICKERSON. 
WILLIAM A. RUSSELL. CHARLES C. BURR. 
FRANK E. SIMPSON. WILLIAM WHITMAN. 

Resident Agent, 
ROBERT REDFORD. 

Superintendent of Worsted Mills, 
WILLIAM D. HARTSHORNE. 

Superintendent op Cotton Mills, 
GEORGE W. TOWNE. 

Selling Agents, 
HARDING WHITMAN & CO. 

-V 

Treasurer's Office . . No. 78 Chauncy St., Boston. 
New York Salesrooms . Nos. SO and 82 Leonard St. 

Boston Salesrooms No. 78 Chauncy St. 

Philadelphia Salesrooms ...... The Bodrse. 





BY WAY OF PREFACE 

OST people have not the slightest idea preface 
what a " top " is, and some explanation 
to the uninitiated is a necessary pre- 
face to a book which is all about worsted tops. 
The word itself is a good old Anglo-Saxon word, 
signifying a tuft or ball at the point or top 
of anything, and so specifically, in the worsted 
manufacture, a bunch or bundle of long-stapled 
combed wool, or " sliver," ready for the spinner. 
The definition given by McLaren is " a ball of 
combed wool from which the noil has been sepa- 
rated." It is claimed that the child's toy, a top, 
although deriving its name from the German 



CONTENTS 

Page 
I. The Genesis of the American Worsted 

Manufacture 1 

II. The Specialization of the Worsted Indus- 
try 13 

III. Description of the New Top Mill ... 31 

IV. The Solvent Process for Cleansing Wool 40 
V. The Hygroscopic Property of Wool . . 57 

VI. How Tops will be Sold 77 

VII. The Mechanical Advance of the Worsted 

Manufacture 87 

VIII. Summary 106 

Appendix A. The Products of the Arlington Mills 115 
Appendix B. Columbus Sighting America: Jac- 

quard Design 121 

Appendix C. The First Carding Engine built in 

America 126 

Appendix D. Facts about the Property of the 

Arlington Mills 130 

Index 133 








Hand Combing 

(From a Fourteenth Century MS. in British Museum) 



CHAPTER I 




THE GENESIS OF THE AMERICAN WORSTED 
MANUFACTURE 

j HIS book will describe the introduction Purpose of this 
of a new branch of industry into the 
United States, or rather, of a new phase 
of the worsted manufacture, — the making of 
worsted tops, of every variety, for sale to the 
spinners of worsted yarn. It will describe 
the buildings that have been constructed for 
the manufacture, and some of the novelties of 
method applied. It will enumerate the advan- 
tages to the manufacturer and to the country 
which seem to be inevitable from the establish- 
1 



GENESIS 
OF THE 
AMERICAN 
WORSTED 

MANUFAC- 
TURE 



The time auspi- 
cious 



merit of this new branch of industry, and inci- 
dentally it will give information, some of it old, 
some of it new, about the history and develop- 
ment of the worsted manufacture in the United 
States and elsewhere ; and in other ways will 
seek to interest as well as to instruct such read- 
ers as want to know what that industry is, what 
obstacles it has overcome, and what future awaits 
it in this country. 

The enterprise described in these pages is the 
result of plans which have been carefully ma- 
turing for years, the actual execution of which 
has been delayed in patient waiting for the 
opportune moment. That moment seems at last 
to have arrived ; the United States, biggest and 
best of all the countries in the world, after a 
prolonged struggle with adverse conditions, 
which have tested the grit of her business men 
and proved the soundness of her business basis, 
is upon the eve of a great step forward, of a 
new industrial development, the character and 
extent of which will leave far in the rear all the 
past achievements of the nation. Our popula- 
tion has been steadily growing at the average 
rate of about 1,500,000 a year ; by the time the 
census of 1900 is taken, it will have reached 
75,000,000, representing a greater consuming 
power than any equal population anywhere in 
the world. To keep up with the requirements 
2 



of such a population, the worsted manufacture genesis 

OF THE 

must adopt and adapt some changes of method, American 

1 _ m l ° ' WORSTED 

needed to bring it more nearly abreast of the ^^ FAC ~ 

° J TURE 

industry in the countries where it has reached 

its highest development. This book aims to 

show that these changes are necessary, that they 

are already under way, and that they are about 

to be enormously expedited and facilitated. 

To measure intelligently the relation which 

this new industry hopes to sustain to the general 

industry of wool manufacturing in this country, 

it is necessary to take a preliminary glance at 

the history of the worsted manufacture in the 

United States. We shall go over the ground 

as briefly as possible, and dwell only lightly on 

facts which are familiar to those who handle 

wool in any of its forms. 

The manufacture of wool by the factory sys- An infant indus- 
try 
tern is only a hundred years old in the United 

States, nor very much older in any other coun- 
try. Measured by the ordinary standards, it is 
still an " infant industry " among us, insomuch 
as it is still passing through a series of changes 
somewhat comparable to those which occur in 
the human frame as it emerges from childhood 
into maturity. To carry the similitude a step 
farther, the domestic wool manufacture may be 
said to be standing to-day on the threshold of 
its manhood, at the point at which the youth, 
3 



GENESIS 
OF THE 
AMERICAN 
WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



putting aside youthful things, takes on the 
duties of life and starts to make his place in 
the world. His success in life depends upon 
the manner in which his faculties and muscles 
have been trained and his aptitudes developed. 
These are his tools ; and if they are dull or 
defective, he won't make much of a fist of it. 
It is very much the same with an industry ; 
beyond a certain stage, its progress and devel- 
opment depend upon the facilities it commands 
for further advance. The American wool manu- 
facture has been lacking thus far in some of the 
chief facilities for a rapid and healthy progress 
along the line of worsted goods ; until that lack 
is supplied, its progress is retarded like that of 
the defectively educated man. The new enter- 
prise described in this volume will inaugurate 
a movement to supply certain facilities for the 
worsted manufacture that have been altogether 
absent in the past. 
The first worsted The worsted industry is very much younger 
here than the woolen manufacture, and very 
much farther behind the development it has 
reached in foreign countries. Indeed, we had no 
worsted manufacture in the United States until 
about 1842 ; and as late as 1860 it was practi- 
cally confined, outside the manufacture of carpet 
yarns, to three large New England mills, — the 
Pacific, the Hamilton Woolen, and the Man- 
4 



Chester, which had been organized to carry on genesis 

. OF THE 

the manufacture of mousseline delaines. These American 

. . WORSTED 

mills had their origin before the machinery f or manupac- 
combing wool was perfected ; but they gradually 
introduced these machines, and before the close 
of the civil war there were a number of them in 
operation in the country. 

There seems to have been an impression 
among those who framed our earlier tariff laws, 
that while the woolen manufacture was an in- 
dustry of great promise, and worthy of every 
fostering care, the worsted manufacture was an 
exotic, — a branch of industry beyond attain- 
meDt, and therefore unworthy of attention. 
Consequently, whenever a new tariff was made, 
worsted goods were always made dutiable at 
much lower rates than woolens, apparently on 
the theory that they were bound to be imported 
any way, and should therefore be burdened only 
with revenue duties. 

There exists in Washington a curious docu- a curious docu- 

. ment 

ment submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury 
in 1854 by the British minister at Washington, 
inclosing a memorial from the Bradford Cham- 
ber of Commerce, and praying for a reduction 
of the then existing ad valorem duty of 25 per 
cent, upon worsted goods to a materially lower 
rate, on the ground that they " do not come into 
competition with American products," and that 



GENESIS 
OF THE 
AMERICAN 
WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



Results of the 
civil war 



a material increase in their importation would 
therefore be "a benefit to every class and every 
section." The prayer of these canny Yorkshire- 
men was addressed to friendly ears ; the duty 
was reduced from 25 to 19 per cent., by the act 
of 1857, and in consequence there ensued for 
the next few years a mighty increase in the de- 
velopment of Bradford. Her machinery doubled 
in capacity, and the foundations of many a 
princely fortune were laid, largely through the 
increase in American business, where there were 
no American mills to compete for the domestic 
trade. 

But the civil war came on ; the necessities of 
the government compelled higher duties all along 
the line ; and before the war ended, conditions 
had arisen under which the making of many 
varieties of worsteds was possible here. When 
the war was over, our people rubbed their eyes 
and awakened to the fact that we actually had 
an American worsted manufacture, firmly estab- 
lished, — a sturdy child, needing only the same 
consideration that was extended to other indus- 
tries to develop into healthy and vigorous man- 
hood. When, therefore, Congress came to the 
enactment of the famous tariff of 1867, it recog- 
nized the fact that, in spite of itself almost, this 
great industry had been transplanted into our 
midst, and that with the same care bestowed 
6 



upon the woolen and . cotton manufactures, it genesis 
would speedily add enormously to the wealth of American 

x J J WORSTED 

the nation. manufac- 

ture 

We have said that the growth of the worsted 
manufacture has been very rapid in the United 
States of late years ; but it is susceptible of de- 
monstration, by a comparison of the statistics of 
this country and of England, that it is very far 
as yet from having reached the relative impor- 
tance that it possesses abroad, and is destined 
to acquire in the United States. To make this 
clear, we must beg the reader's pardon while we 
intrude a few statistics ; they are dry reading, 
but they have their uses nevertheless. This 
little table from the eleventh federal census 
shows the development of our worsted industry 
from 1860 to 1890 : — 







STATISTICS OF WORSTED 


MILLS, 1860-1890. 






cS-2 




, g 


S A 


A 








Sxi 






3 S 


50 




O 3 




x>.™ 






s°a 






T3 




S3 


a, 


■2 * 


£ 'S o 






3g 




3a 


B W 


>X3W 






«FM 


!* 


fes" 


O 


g 


< 


H 


o 




1860 


3 


$3,230,000 


- 


2,378 


$543,684 


$2,442,775 


$3,701,378 


1870 


102 


10,085,778 


- 


12,920 


4,368,857 


14,308,198 


22,090,331 


1880 


76 


20,374,043 


- 


18,803 


5,683,027 


22,013,628 


33,549,942 


1890 


143 


68,0S5,116 


$4,917,760 


43,593 


15,880,183 


50,706,769 


79,194,652 



We see from this table that during the de- 
cade 1880-1890, the number of worsted mills 
just about doubled, the capital employed in- 



GENESIS 
OF THE 
AMERICAN 
WORSTED 

MANUFAC- 
TURE 



English statis- 
tics 



creased more than three times, the total number 
of employees more than doubled, and the value 
of products increased 136 per cent. In the same 
decade the value of the products of the woolen 
mills declined from $160,606,721 to $133,577,- 
977, showing that all the gain of the decade was 
in the worsted mills, and that the development 
of this branch was going on at the expense of 
the other. It was still the fact, however, that 
the woolen mills far outnumbered the worsted 
mills, exceeded them in machinery capacity, and 
turned out a product nearly double the value of 
the products of the worsted mills. 

Comparing this situation with that which 
exists in England, we shall find every justifica- 
tion for the contention that our worsted industry 
is still far behind its normal development, as 
compared with the woolen industry, when judged 
by the relative statistical status of the two in- 
dustries in the greatest of the wool manufactur- 
ing nations. The latest returns we have on the 
subject are those of the British Board of Trade 
for 1889, and from these it appears that the 
total number of persons employed in the woolen 
and worsted industries was almost exactly the 
same in both branches, — 148,729 in one and 
148,324 in the other ; while in the woolen mills 
there were 3,407,002 spindles as compared with 
3,072,250 worsted spindles. From the year 1870, 



when these English figures begin, the worsted genesis 

IT ■ • Tl , 0F THE 

manufacture has been gaming steadily upon the American 

° & J r WORSTED 

woolen manufacture ; in 1889, as we see, they manufac- 
were nearly neck and neck. When the next 
returns appear, we have no doubt they will show 
the worsted manufacture considerably in the 
lead ; for the tendency towards worsteds has 
been more marked in the past five years than 
ever before. The tastes of the people are dis- 
tinctly turning from woolen to worsted fabrics ; 
and the United States manufacturers have not 
yet brought the worsted branch to the relative 
development long ago reached abroad. The 
field for growth is correspondingly large. 

We must not be understood as in any sense The woolen 

, . , n „ t • manufacture 

decrying the woolen manufacture, or predicting 
its decay. We are simply depicting an indus- 
trial evolution which, by reason of its belated 
start in the United States, is now bound to ad- 
vance with the greater rapidity here. The field 
of the woolen mill has been gradually circum- 
scribed, but it is still large enough to tax the 
energies of increasing numbers. The people 
will never stop using blankets ; and, while the 
astonishing development of the knitted under- 
wear manufacture has greatly limited the use of 
flannels in one direction, the taste and ingenuity 
of their makers have largely increased their use 
in another by producing flannel dress goods, of 
9 



GENESIS 
OF THE 
AMERICAN 
WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



The Arlington 
Mills begins to 
make worsted 



delicate finish and beautiful patterns, which must 
always retain their popularity for ladies' wear. 
Nevertheless, there are possibilities of fabrica- 
tion in worsted goods, particularly in the use of 
lustre wools and mohairs, and in Jacquard ef- 
fects, which are beyond attainment in woolens, 
and which, as the application of art to textiles 
extends, are destined to greatly increase the use 
of worsteds, not only for ladies' wear, but for 
every conceivable decorative purpose. 

It may thus be said to be more the result of 
accident than design that we have a worsted 
manufacture in this country, and we count it a 
happy coincidence that the Arlington Mills came 
permanently under the present management very 
shortly after the passage of that celebrated tariff 
act of 1867. The mills had hitherto been em- 
ployed upon various kinds of woolen goods, 
including felts, and had not been particularly 
successful. But its management was quick to 
see the possibilities opened up by the act of 
1867, and decided to abandon woolen goods alto- 
gether. No worsted machinery of any kind was 
then manufactured in this country, — indeed, 
very little of it is made here yet, and great pos- 
sibilities await the men with the courage and 
the capital necessary to successfully enter this 
field of enterprise. Combing, preparing, and 
spinning machinery were therefore imported 
10 



from England, enough to supply the yarns for genesis 

OF THE 
160 looms. AMERICAN 

WORSTED 

Nothing but discouragement rewarded the ^re FAC ~ 
earlier years of the enterprise. In England, 
France, and Belgium the worsted manufacture 
had by this time been brought to a very high 
degree of perfection, and worsted dress goods 
were landed here at prices and of qualities which 
were the wonder and the despair of American 
pioneers. Skilled operatives were few ; the 
whole business was experimental ; and money 
was spent much faster than it came back. In 
1869 it was found that the Arlington Company 
must either reorganize or suspend. It required 
a good deal of courage, on the part of the stock- 
holders, to pay into the treasury the full amount 
of the capital stock, then $240,000, and continue 
operations. But that was done, and the venture 
was justified in a comparatively short time, by 
the popularity of the lustre fabrics, mohairs, 
alpacas, and other bright goods, which was at 
that time very great, and to the manufacture of 
which the Arlington Mills gradually turned all 
its energies. 

It is not our purpose in this volume to repeat 
the history and description of the Arlington 
Mills contained in the book entitled " The Ar- 
lington Mills : A Historical and Descriptive 
Sketch," published in 1891. The account here 
11 



GENESIS 
OF THE 

AMERICAN 
WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



given relates only to new buildings erected and 
new processes introduced since that volume was 
published ; and the reader desiring further in- 
formation in regard to the mill and its products 
is referred to the book in question. It will ap- 
pear, from that volume, that the forward step 
now taken in the development of the enterprise 
is the logical outcome of its previous growth. 





Hand Spinning 
(From a Fourteenth Century MS. in British Museum) 



CHAPTER II 

THE SPECIALIZATION OF THE WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 




E have gone thus fully into the history An evolution 
of our domestic worsted manufacture, 
because it is important to a full under- 
standing of the revolution in methods of manu- 
facture which is destined ultimately to overtake 
this industry in the United States. It is still an 
industry in the chrysalis state ; it is to emerge 
from that state into the full and final form of 
development, not suddenly or readily, as occurs 
to the chrysalis in nature, but slowly and pain- 

1Q 
O 



specializa- fully, as experience shall gradually establish, 

TION OF THE . 1 tx • • ' 

worsted here as in nature, the Darwinian law of the 



INDUSTRY 



Origin of the 
American 
woolen mill 



survival of the fittest. 

There could not well be a greater industrial 
contrast than that presented by the development 
of the worsted manufacture here, and that which 
has taken place in Europe. The one experience 
may be called the reverse of the other, and it is 
necessary to the purposes of this narrative to 
show how and why this is so. 

Our earliest woolen mills were evolutions from 
the carding mill and fulling mill of colonial 
days. They were located upon some stream, 
and were situated at long distances from each 
other. When power machinery was introduced, 
and factory-made cloth began to supersede the 
" homespun " of the fireside with which our 
ancestors clothed themselves, the pioneer man- 
ufacturers found it necessary to perform all 
the processes connected with the making of 
cloth. They must not only spin their own 
yarns, but they must dye and finish their own 
cloths, there being nobody in the neighborhood 
who could do any of these things for them. 
Every woolen mill was compelled to be a com- 
plete entity in itself ; and thus by sheer f oi-ce 
of circumstances, our method of manufacturing 
developed and continued along its own individ- 
ual lines. It is only within a comparatively 
14 




S25 

O 
H 

g 

13 
< 

w 
a 

H 

fa 
o 

H 

E- 
ai 
<! 

w 
o 

p 
w 

H 

o 



few years that the inertia of inherited habit specializa- 

J . TION OF THE 

has begun to give way, here and there, before worsted 

, INDUSTRY 

the superior advantages of a subdivision of the 
industry into its several specialties. This 
modern tendency to specialization is quite as 
marked in the other great industries, like cot- 
ton and iron and steel, as in the worsted manu- 
facture. We have recently seen it carried to its 
logical development in the manufacture of bicy- 
cles, the several parts of which are now made, 
as a rule, in separate and independent estab- 
lishments,, 

This tendency to specialization, so compara- origin of the in- 
tively new in the United States, was its earliest iand ry ™ " g 
characteristic in England. The minute subdi- 
vision of the industry in Great Britain is an 
evolution of centuries, and a survival of the 
days of hand manufacture, under which, just as 
at present, the spinner, the weaver, the dyer, 
and the fuller had each his distinct, well-defined 
field of work, into which the rules of the guilds 
forbade either of the others to encroach. It 
was a subdivision unaccompanied by any in- 
convenience, because of the close concentration 
of the cloth manufacture in particular localities. 
There were certain towns where practically the 
only occupation of the people was some one of 
those connected with the cloth manufacture. 
As machine manufacture gradually drove out 
15 



Top making in 
England 



specializa- the hand worker, this differentiation continued 

TION OF THE 

worsted along- lines established by immemorial custom, 
and there are but slight departures from it in 
England to-day, because experience leads men to 
believe that on the whole it is the most efficient 
and economical system of manufacturing. 

The extent to which this specialization of the 
worsted manufacture is carried abroad may not 
be fully realized by those Americans who are 
not in the habit of making frequent trips across 
the water. It will facilitate the purpose of this 
narrative to indicate its character and its advan- 
tages somewhat in detail. 

The manufacture of tops is its starting-point. 
Comparatively few of the English and conti- 
nental spinners and weavers make their own 
tops. While this separate top manufacture is 
a survival of the old days of hand combing and 
domestic industry, yet the reason why it has 
survived is because experience has abundantly 
proved that it is the most satisfactory and eco- 
nomical method of manufacturing. Hence it 
happens that the enormous quantity of wool 
which is annually woven into worsted goods in 
England passes originally through a compara- 
tively small number of combing establishments. 
There are in Yorkshire, all told, according to 
Morrell's Textile Directory, only about sixty 
combing establishments, which comb wool for 
16 



hundreds of manufacturers. A few of these specializa- 

. TION OF THE 

establishments are of enormous size ; the firm worsted 

' INDUSTRY 

of Isaac Holden & Sons owns two complete 
combing plants in Bradford and two others of The Hoiden 

. . t-»i • i com b™g mills 

equal size on the continent, one at Rheims and 
one at Croix, near Roubaix, in France. It is 
stated in the Report of the Royal British 
Commission on Technical Education (Second 
Report, vol. 1, page 259) that two fifths of all 
the colonial wool annually sold at the London 
auctions passes through the combing machines 
operated by this firm. The statement seems 
incredible when we consider how enormous is 
the volume of this wool. In questioning it, we 
do not wish to seem to detract from the prestige 
of this great firm. Of that there can be no 
question. Sir Isaac Holden, M. P., the recent 
head of the firm, was the inventor of the comb- 
ing machine which bears his name, and which, 
in conjunction with the Heilman, Lister, and 
Noble machines, has done more than any other Results of the 

combing ma- 
in vention to promote the wool manufacture and chine invention 

develop the wool-growing resources of the south- 
ern hemisphere. 1 It is an impressive thought 
that, but for the invention of the comb, the 
enormous increase in the world's wool supply 

1 The increase in the wool clip of Australasia, South 
America, and the Cape Colonies has heen from 154,000,000 
pounds in 1860 to 1,100,000,000 pounds in 1896, an increase 
of over 600 per cent. 

17 



SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF THE 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



The Antwerp 
top market 



which marks the last forty years could not have 
taken place. 

The reason why the Bradford manufacturers 
send their wool to the Holdens and others to be 
combed is because they can get the work done 
better and cheaper than they can do it them- 
selves. That holds to reason ; if it were not the 
fact, these shrewd Yorkshiremen would have 
found it out long- ago, and would now be making 
their own tops. If it were not the fact, the 
rapid development of the Antwerp top market 
would have been an impossibility. 

This top market, like that at Roubaix in 
France, is a peculiar outcome of peculiar con- 
ditions, and has much disturbed the staid Eng- 
lishmen, with their conservative methods of 
doing business. The Bradford " Observer " de- 
scribes these terminal top markets at Antwerp 
and Roubaix as "gigantic gambling estab- 
lishments, which have become the Monte Carlo 
and Monaco of the top trade." The origin of 
these top markets is attributed to the early at- 
tention which the Belgians and the French gave 
to the burry and ill-conditioned wools of South 
America. They devoted special attention both 
to machinery for removing the burr, and to 
chemical methods of treating it. In the earlier 
days of the sheep industry of Argentina, the 
wools of that country were shunned by English 
18 



manufacturers on account of their burry condi- specializa- 

J TION OF THE 

tion, and, finding their way across the channel, w( ^fJ*P 
were sold at auction for what they would bring, 
— almost given away, in comparison with the 
prices paid for Australian wools. The Belgians 
experimented with these defective wools, and, 
hitting upon various expedients for getting rid 
of the burr, they were enabled to make yarns 
very much cheaper for the quality than any 
offered by English or Scotch spinners. This 
yarn found its way to England and elsewhere, 
and none made from other wools could compete 
with it in price. English, French, and Ger- 
man spinners were driven to seek the tops from 
which it was made ; an enormous business grew 
up ; and as these " B. A." tops were practically 
all of one quality, prepared to spin to a single 
number, and as they were offered in constantly 
increasing quantities, the development and ad- 
vance of the terminal top markets were so rapid 
as almost to approach a phenomenon. It was 
contended, in their favor, that in the presence of "Futures "in 

tops 

vastly accelerated means of communication and 
transport, the operator should have correspond- 
ingly increased facilities for turning over his 
ventures ; and that it would be a great advantage 
to the spinner, weaver, etc., to be able to cover, 
by dealings in " futures," losses which might 
arise from subsequent fluctuations of the market. 
19 



SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF THE 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



Uniformity 



How the new 
enterprise origi- 
nated 



The result has been very like that which occurs 
from the sale of " futures " in cotton, corn, and 
wheat. The circular of Buxton & Ronald 
for 1896 states that from November, 1894, to 
October 31, 1895, the transactions in River 
Plate tops of the recognized standard type at 
Antwerp and Roubaix were twelve times greater 
than the quantity actually produced during the 
same period. 

The development of the Antwerp top market 
is a recognition of the fact that the top is the 
earliest stage at which wool can be traded in, as 
corn or cotton are traded in, with any certainty 
of uniformity in the article. As a matter of 
fact, the Antwerp tops necessarily vary materi- 
ally in quality ; for all combers are not equally 
careful, either in their processes of manufacture 
or in the purchase and sorting of their stock. 
The manufacturer who resorts to Antwerp for 
tops necessarily enters a lottery, a risk which 
will be wholly escaped by the American manu- 
facturer who buys the Arlington Mills tops, for 
reasons that we shall presently see. 
|~The management of the Arlington Mills was 
first brought to the investigation of the foreign 
methods of specialization in the summer of 1894, 
when legislation was pending to remove the duty 
upon foreign wool, and otherwise so to change 
the status of the manufacture as to amount to 
20 




A VERMONT MERINO RAM 



an economic revolution. It appeared necessary specializa- 

1 x J TION OF THE 

to prepare to adapt American methods to new worsted 

r _ f r . INDUSTRY 

conditions ; and the treasurer of the Arlington 
Mills visited Europe during the summer in 
question and acquired all the information possi- 
ble upon the system of manufacturing there pre- 
vailing. He became convinced that to secure 
the best possible results in this country, radi- 
cal changes were necessary, beginning at the 
very foundation. It was made clear to him that 
the most successful combed wool manufacturers 
abroad depended primarily upon the cheapness 
and perfection with which their wool tops were 
produced ; and also that this cheapness and per- 
fection combined were only possible when the 
manufacture was specialized on a large scale^ 
For such a specialization, it was evident that 
certain things were imperative : — 

First. Knowledge of the wools of the WOrld Requirements 

for success 

and how to mix or assemble them. 

Second. Facilities for purchasing such wools 
at minimum cost in the chief countries of pro- 
duction or sale. 

Third. Buildings especially adapted, both as 
to arrangement and mechanical appliances, for 
the economical handling and distribution of wool 
in bulk. 

Fourth. The very best machinery, especially 
adapted to the various kinds of wool to be 
21 



tested 



5 pecializa- worked, so as to secure a maximum of produc- 

TI0X OF THE . . . * 

worsted tion at a minimum of expenditure for labor and 

INDUSTRY r 

loss from waste. 

Fifth. A home market for wool tops. 

Four of these five requirements were attain- 
able, the doubtful one being the fifth; was it 
possible to secure a home market for tops ? 
Did it involve too radical a change in our 
American methods of manufacture, to promise 
a success quick enough and large enough to 
warrant the establishment of an enterprise for 
top making on a large scale ? 
The market The wav to test the question was to begin the 

business with such machinery as the mills already 
possessed. Prior to this time, certain portions of 
the cardins: and combino- machinery had been 
run night and day, and it was decided, if pur- 
chasers for the tops could be found, to run the 
whole of this machinery night and day. This 
was done during a small portion of the year 
1894. and practically during the whole of the 
year 1895, purchasers being found at satisfac- 
tory prices and for considerable quantities, for 
all the tops it was possible to produce in excess 
of the Arlington Mills* own wants. This success 
seemed to fully warrant the undertaking of the 
enterprise described in these pages. 

It was further justified by the previous expe- 
rience of the Arlington Mills in the manufac- 



ture of worsted yarns for sale. This corpora- specializa- 

i_- .1 n , -vt -n t .7, TION OF THE 

tion was among- the first New England mills to worsted 

INDUSTRY 

undertake the manufacture of worsted yarns for 
sale on a large scale, although the manufacture 
had been carried on in Philadelphia for many 
years. In that city, where they have a com- 
pact network of manufacturing establishments, 
all within hailing distance of each other, the 
specialization or differentiation of the wool 
manufacture, its division into distinct and sep- 
arate groups, such as spinning, weaving, and 
finishing, which distinguish it abroad, had been 
making headway for many years before it began 
to appear at all in New England, showing, in a 
manner instructive to the student of economic 
conditions, how much local environment has to 
do with determining the special development of 
industries. 

The experience of the Arlington Mills in The manufac- 
the manufacture of worsted yarns for sale had sale 
proved that the industry was already in a state 
sufficiently advanced to permit of further devel- 
opment along the line of the least resistance, to 
borrow a phrase from the scientist. When the 
manufacturer could make worsted goods without 
incurring the added expense of all the machin- 
ery for making the yarns, it followed that the 
manufacture must grow, not only faster but 
more safely; for it was at once placed upon 
23 



SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF THE 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



Advantages of 
the method 



a healthier basis, from an economic point of 
view. To-day the manufacture of worsted yarns 
for sale employs all the energies of a number 
of mills ; the business is growing and will con- 
tinue to grow, for the method permits of more 
economical and, on the whole, more satisfactory 
manufacturing. 

The smaller user of worsted yarns can buy 
them cheaper than he can make them. He 
buys only such yarns, in the first place, as ex- 
actly meet his requirements. If he is making 
his own yarns, he must use good, bad, and in- 
different, just as they come from the frames. 
It is not difficult to understand why the manu- 
facturer who spins a comparatively small quan- 
tity of yarn cannot obtain as uniformly good 
results as the manufacturer engaged in making 
millions of pounds. In the first place, he can- 
not buy his stock to such good advantage : and 
therefore he cannot obtain such perfect uni- 
formity in his sorts. In the second place, where 
the spinning done is large in amount, the expert 
supervision is of a higher grade and the atten- 
tion to every detail necessary to perfect work 
is closer and more exacting. All yarns made 
for sale must conform to a fixed standard. 
That standard it is cheaper and easier to buy, 
under certain conditions, than to maintain for 
one's self. 

24 



All that is true of yarns, in these respects, is specializa- 

x TION OF THE 

equally true or the tops from which the yarns worsted 

are made. Whatever advantage accrues to the 

weaver, from the ability to buy yarns suited The same with 

, . , ... -., - tops as with 

to his special needs, will accrue equally to the yams 
spinner from the opportunity to buy tops. 

Thus one development leads logically and nat- 
urally up to another. Every advance in one 
direction is sure to inaugurate other advances 
in a great variety of other directions. Once the 
specialization of a great industry has fairly 
started, its further progress is certain, even 
though it may be gradual. 

The construction of an American top mill, 
under the manufacturing conditions above de- 
scribed, compelling the investment of a large 
amount of capital, in anticipation of the de- 
velopment of a business still in embryo, so to 
speak, may at first sight appear to involve a 
large element of chance and uncertainty. For 
that reason it may be worth while to enter 
somewhat at length, in this connection, into the 
reasons which lead to the conviction, on the part 
of the Arlington Mills' management, that the 
top business, the foundations of which are al- 
ready laid, is sure to develop, and needs only 
the stimulus of such a plant as it has constructed 
to develop rapidly. That it is an instance in 
which 

25 



SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF THE 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



Imports of for- 
eign tops 



" increase of appetite had grown 
By what it fed on," 

is not only shown by the experience of the Ar- 
lington Mills during the past three years, in 
constantly being called upon to supply tops and 
rovings to other mills, although not equipped 
to that end or in the market with that class of 
goods, but also by the statistics of importations 
under the recent tariff. 

Prior to the enactment of the tariff act of 
1894, the duty on tops and rovings, being the 
same as that imposed upon the finished goods, 
was prohibitory, or high enough to be so re- 
garded, in the absence of any demand for them. 
Up to 1894, practically no worsted tops had 
ever been imported into the United States. By 
the law of that year, not only was the specific 
duty wholly removed from tops, in consequence 
of the removal of all duty from wool, but the ad 
valorem duty was reduced to twenty per cent. 
Almost immediately there sprang up a consid- 
erable importation of tops and rovings, which 
reached, in the first year under the new law, a 
total of 1,567,372 pounds ; in the second year 
a total of 1,147,461 pounds; and in the third 
year, that ending June 30, 1897, a total of 
5,662,952 pounds, having a foreign value of 
11,821,405. 

26 



This great importation of the last year was specializa- 
tion OF T" 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



£ 1 1 *_• • . ,, , TION OF THE 

or course largely anticipatory or the enactment worsted 



of the new tariff; but it was conclusive evi- 
dence that there is a market for the commodity, 
which only requires a supply. That this supply 
cannot hereafter be obtained from abroad is 
evident to those familiar with the peculiar 
construction of the tariff act of July 24, 1897. 
This act provides (par. 364) that " Wool and 
hair which have been advanced in any manner 
or by any process of manufacture beyond the 
washed or scoured condition, not specially pro- The new tariff 
vided for in this act, shall be subject to the same ° n t0ps 
duties as are imposed upon manufactures of wool 
not specially provided for in this act." Tops, 
rovings and ropings, the semi-manufactured pro- 
ducts of wool, are all included in this classifica- 
tion. It is plain that Congress, in fixing these 
rates of duty, was governed by the desire to 
encourage in this country not simply the manu- 
facture of the finished articles, but also of the 
semi-manufactured products out of which they 
are made. The Arlington top mill was planned 
at a time when nobody dreamed of a tariff act 
like that of 1897 ; it was practically completed 
before that act was framed; and it is fortu- 
nately in a position to supply, from a domestic 
source, a demand which can hardly be supplied 
hereafter from abroad. 

27 ■ 



SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF THE 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



Less capital re- 
quired to manu- 
facture 



It is evident, then, that there is a demand for 
tops in the United States, a demand which is 
due to the operation of the causes we have been 
enumerating. In taking the step which will 
supply this developing demand from a domestic 
source, the Arlington Mills is rendering possible 
a much more rapid advancement of the worsted 
manufacture in the immediate future. We will 
point out one reason in particular why this 
must be so. Undoubtedly the cause of the rela- 
tively slow development of the worsted manu- 
facture in the United States has been the excep- 
tionally large capital required in the way of 
plant. It has been necessary to equip a mill 
from the start of the wool to the finish of the 
goods. The machinery required in the prepara- 
tory processes of the manufacture of worsted 
yarn is costly and elaborate, compelling a much 
larger outlay of capital than the preparatory 
machinery of the woolen manufacture. 

It has been estimated that three fifths of the 
total cost of a worsted spinning plant is incurred 
for machinery necessary to processes which are 
prior to the spinning frame itself, i. e., to the 
making of the top. Once the top is made, it is 
comparatively easy and inexpensive to draw and 
spin it into yarn. A comparatively small amount 
of capital will therefore equip a spinning mill, 
where the necessity is removed for making the 
28 



top. It may be fairly anticipated, therefore, specializa- 

. | - , . . , , , , TION OF THE 

when the opportunity is thus opened, that such worsted 

rr .,, . INDUSTRY 

spinning plants will spring up ; and that as they 

increase in number there will be a corresponding An increase of 

. i i» t , i spinning mills 

increase in the number of weaving plants, de- 
pending upon spinners to supply all the yarns 
that may be required. 

It is in this way that the foreign manufacturer 
has largely obtained his advantage over our 
own. Yorkshire is full of comparatively small 
establishments, engaged exclusively in the busi- 
ness either of spinning or of weaving. Many of 
the colossal fortunes made in the textile indus- 
tries of England began in this humble fashion. 
Having received an order for a certain kind 
and quantity of yarn, the spinner has only to 
go upon the market and purchase the necessary 
amount of tops to fill his order. He is able to 
pay the top maker's profit out of his saving of 
interest upon a large investment in plant and a 
long holding of his raw materials. The capital 
needed is not only much smaller, but it can be 
turned over much more rapidly. The lack of 
similar facilities, due to minute specialization, 
has been a distinct handicap to the progress of 
the worsted manufacture in this country. 

Having thus described the general plan of this 
new departure, the reasons which have justified 
it, and the advantages that must spring from it, 
29 



SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF THE 
WORSTED 
INDUSTRY 



we proceed to a detailed description of the new 
buildings which have been constructed at Law- 
rence for the purpose of carrying it on, of the 
new machinery installed, and of some of the new 
methods and processes of manufacture which 
have been adopted, after long and careful exper- 
iments, to secure the best possible results. 





PLAN 

OF THE PROPERTY OF THE 

^Arlington Mills 

SITUATED IN 

LAWRENCE 48 METHUEN 

December, 1897. 

.SCALE OF FEET 



100 200 300 400 



J 




PLAN 

OF THE PROPERTY OF THE 

Arlington Mills 

SITUATED IN 

LAWRENCE «0 METHUEN 

December, 1897. 



200 300 100 




Ladies Spinning and Weaving 

(From a Fifteenth Century MS. in British Museum) 



CHAPTER III 

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW TOP MILL 



JSStU'F the reader will glance at the ground Location of the 

-nx'-n i new mill 

plan of the Arlington Mills given here- 
with, he can obtain at a glance a gen- 
eral idea of the relation of the new top mill, 
31 



description both as to size and location, to the older portions 

OF THE NEW . -n 

top mill of the plant. The new spinning mill erected in 
1891 abuts the corner of Broadway and what was 
then known as Chalmers street. Subsequent to 
the erection of the spinning' mill, the corporation 
added to its property north of Chalmers street, 
and the city government of Lawrence, in view of 
the plan to erect a new top mill on this property, 
closed Chalmers street as a public highway, the 
fee in which already belonged to the corporation, 
and granted the Arlington Mills the exclusive 
right to its use, since it led nowhere except into 
the mill property. What was Chalmers street is 
therefore now the broad passageway separating 
the top mill from the spinning mill. 

Size The new structure is one of the largest mill 

buildings in the United States. Its actual di- 
mensions are 677 feet 7 inches in length by 
109 feet 8 inches in width, over all, outside, with 
a wing 88 feet 8 inches long by 78 feet 5 inches 
wide inside. The wing is two stories with base- 
ment, and the main building four stories with 
basement. 

This main building is divided at the engine- 
room by a belt race ten feet wide, inclosed by 
brick walls running up to the third story above 
the basement, making divisions of the basement 
and first and second stories into two rooms each at 
this point. The first story front room, 528 feet 
32 



The main build- 
ing. 



long inside, is the combing-room. The room in description 
the rear of this, 128 feet long and 101 feet wide, top mill 
inside, and the basement room under it (the 
wash-room proper) are devoted to the handling 
and washing of the wool. 

The carding floor (the second story), though 
divided into two rooms of the same dimensions 
as those on the floor below, is so constructed as 
to constitute practically one great room. 

The third floor is the storage-room, divided 
by one partition wall instead of two, so that 
the dimensions are respectively 528 feet long 
by 101 feet wide and 139 feet 4 inches long by 
101 feet wide. 

The entire fourth floor is the new sorting- The sorting- 
room, and its division and dimensions are the 
same as those of the storage floor. The sorting 
benches are so arranged around this top floor 
as to give under ordinary circumstances one 
window bay to each sorter, the room accommo- 
dating, in this way, 155 wool sorters. But by 
placing an additional double row of benches 
down the middle of the room, the number of 
sorters can be doubled, still leaving ample elbow 
room for each sorter. 

The arrangement of these several floors has Arrangement of 

been carefully studied, with a view to the utmost 

economy of time and labor in the handling of 

the material at the several stages of manufac- 

33 



description ture. 

OF THE NEW 
TOP MILL 



Heat and venti- 
lation 



The progress of the wool from the time 
when it has been delivered from the cars, in the 
bale, to the sorting-room at the top of the build- 
ing, is downward, from floor to floor, until the 
finished top reaches the basement, where it re- 
mains for storage, unless it is to go into imme- 
diate use. Nearly the whole of this basement, 
except the wash-room, is devoted to the storage 
of the completed tops. It has been carefully 
constructed, so as to secure the proper tempera- 
ture in all weathers. It has a storage capacity 
of a million and a half pounds of top. This 
basement connects directly with a large wing on 
the south side of the building, which contains 
the shipping department and connects directly 
with the railroad tracks of the Boston and Maine 
railroad. In this wing are located also the of- 
fices for the clerical force of this department of 
the mill, and also those of the overseer and his 
clerks. 

The ventilation of this building is provided 
for by means of drosophore fan intakes, which 
supply both moisture and fresh air at the same 
time. The temperature of the air can be some- 
what regulated, according to the season, by 
using cold water or warm water. It is calcu- 
lated that any additional heat will not be re- 
quired either on the combing floor or the card- 
room floor, beyond that which is supplied in 
34 



the necessary heating- of the machinery itself, description 

J ° . . , J .OF THE NEW 

The upper floor, containing the sortmg-room, is top mill 
heated by a hot air system. The building is so 
arranged that the ventilation of the lower rooms 
may serve to keep the storage-room sufficiently 
warm. All the arrangements for heating and 
ventilating the building have been constructed 
in accordance with the latest scientific plans. 

The building is equipped with drosophores, 
which permit the regulation of the humidity of 
the atmosphere, to meet the most exact require- 
ments of perfect manufacturing. 

The main stairway of the building is situated stairways 
very near the centre, and is arranged on the 
double flight plan, that is to say, one flight on 
each side with a wide middle stairway. Expe- 
rience has shown that this arrangement is the 
most advantageous to assist in rapid exit. 

Two other stairways facilitate connection be- 
tween the several stories. One of them is at 
the northeast corner, within an interior tower, 
so as to be used as a fire escape. The other 
stairway tower is at the southwest corner, next 
to the engine-room. It will also serve as a fire 
escape, and contains, in addition, a hydraulic 
elevator, connecting all the floors from the base- 
ment to the sorting-room. These towers also 
contain the retiring-rooms for the employees. 

A second hydraulic elevator runs between the Elevators 
35 



description walls of the belt race which intersects the build- 

OF THE NEW . 

top mill ing near the centre. This elevator affords quick 
connection between the wash-house, the carding- 
room, and the combing-room. A third elevator 
runs between the basement and the first floor of 
the shipping-room wing. This elevator is also 
connected with the combing-room and the base- 
ment under the main building, and with each 
floor above. 

Engine and boil- The boiler-house and engine-room comprise 
another one-story wing of the building located 
on the same side as the shipping wing. The 
chimney is 175 feet high and has a six-foot 
inside core. In the engine-room is a compound 
condensing Corliss engine of about 1200 horse 
power. 

The boilers are of the water tube type, in 
three banks of two boilers each. They are also 
fitted with stokers and automatic coal supply, so 
arranged that one man can take care of the 
entire boiler-house, including the removal of the 
ashes, and not be hard pushed at that. These 

Labor-saving modern facilities for the saving of labor in 
boiler-rooms are among the most interesting 
signs of the rapid mechanical advance of recent 
years, although they are not more striking, per- 
haps, than those which appear throughout the 
whole mechanical outfit of this new top mill. 
From the preceding description of the build- 
36 



ins; containing; the top-making equipment, the description 

o _ .. .. OF THE NEW 

reader will readily infer that it is proposed to top mill 
make this new plant an organism complete in 
itself, and entirely distinct and separate from a complete or- 
the long-established business of the Arlington 
Mills. The top mill has no mechanical connec- 
tion with the rest of the plant. It not only has 
its own power to move all its machinery, but it 
has its own set of books and bookkeepers, and 
all its accounts will be separately kept. 

Having described the building, we can now 
intelligently follow the progress of the material 
from room to room, and process to process. The 
raw material, on reaching the mills, is carried 
directly from the cars to the upper story, where 
it is sorted. The sorts which are to be deliv- 
ered for degreasing to the solvent process plant, 
described in the next chapter, are dropped 
directly from the sorting-room floor into cars or Handling the 
large trucks, which are run into the building to 
receive them, on the first floor, in the depart- 
ment above the wash-house. The wool is 
dropped by means of galvanized iron chutes, 
which run to the third or sort storage floor, so 
that the material can be taken with equal ease 
from either the sorting-room or storage-room. 
These trucks are delivered to the solvent 
process plant by an electric motor system. 
They are so adjusted as to dimensions that they 
37 



description can be elevated to the top floor of the solvent 

OF THE NEW . x 

top mill process building, run alongside the kiers, and 
emptied, practically without handling. 

The wool having been degreased, the kiers are 
so , arranged that they empty their contents 
directly back into the trucks. By the electric 
motor system, they are thence brought back to 
the top mill, where they are carried into the 
first floor, directly above the wash-house, where 
they are unloaded, ready for delivery into the 
feeders of the washers below. From the wash- 
room, the material passes to the card-room on 
the second floor above. Having been carded, 
the card balls are dropped by means of chutes 
to the first or combing-room floor. Thence the 
progress is steadily forward, without direct 
handling, from one series of machines to the 
next series, passing from the gilling-machines to 
\ the combing-machines, and thence to the balling- 

machines, without once being placed in a truck. 
After being balled on the finishing boxes into 
top, the material is dropped from this combing- 
room floor through chutes, into trucks, which 
await it in the basement, and which carry the 
different grades and lots of tops to their appro- 
priate location in the storage-room, where it is 
finally placed in bins. It should be added that 
this storage basement is connected through the 
shipping-room basement, by means of a tunnel, 
38 



The storage of 
tops 



with the basement of the spinning department, description 

L ° 7 . OF THE NEW 

which will buy its top from the top mill just as top mill 
other customers do. 

It is calculated that there can be delivered 
from this building, with these improved expedit- 
ing processes, 300,000 pounds of top a week, 
requiring for their production between 600,000 
and 800,000 pounds of greasy wool per week. 
The top mill is thus capable of consuming the capacity of the 

mill 

entire wool clip of the States of Ohio and Cali- 
fornia, which, next to Texas, are the two largest 
wool-growing States of the Union. The fleeces 
of 20,000 sheep will pass through its machinery 
every day that it is in full operation. Its ca- 
pacity is equal to one eighth of the total wool 
clip of the United States. 





Egyptians preparing Flax 

(From a Theban frieze) 



CHAPTER IV 



Defects of pre- 
vious methods 
of wool cleansing 



THE SOLVENT PROCESS TOR CLEANSING WOOL 

N describing the new methods adopted 
at the Arlington Mills to insure perfec- 
tion of product, we begin naturally with 




the cleansing of the wool, which is the first point 
in the manufacture. It is at this initial stage 
that the most valuable of all recent improve- 
ments in the handling of the fibre is to be 
applied at Lawrence. 

Up to the time when the naphtha process of 
cleansing wool was first successfully undertaken 
at the Arlington Mills, about three years ago, 
this operation remained the most defective point 
in the whole process of the manipulation of wool. 
This was the more extraordinary, not simply 
40 



because it is the initial step, but because it is the the solvent 

-,, „ PROCESS 

step upon which depends the success of every 

subsequent process. If the wool is injured in 
the cleansing, or if it is only partially cleansed, 
if its fibre is impaired by contact with too power- 
ful alkalies, or by immersion in overheated 
scouring solutions, the harm done is visible at 
every subsequent stage, not merely in its effects 
upon the working qualities of the wool, but in 
the "feel," appearance, and durability of the 
goods produced from it. Poorly scoured wool 
resists the action of mordants, and takes on a 
" streaky " color, because the dyes cannot pro- 
perly penetrate the fibre. Many an unsuccessful 
wool manufacturer can trace his troubles straight 
to the scouring-room ; many do trace them there, 
only to find themselves confronted by a problem 
which they are helpless to solve. 

Of course, there are many excellent scouring Agencies for 

.... tit i wool scouring 

machines m existence, and there have been great 
improvements made in recent years. The diffi- 
culty has not been altogether with the machines, 
but with the agencies used in connection with 
the machines, to cleanse the wool in its passage 
through them. Potash, carbonate of soda, sili- 
cate of soda, ammonia, and soap are all more 
or less used in wool washing.' In the old days 
urine was a common agency used in the house- 
hold manufacture, and was a better material, so 
41 



£?£^£ VENT f ar as i ts effects on the wool were concerned, 
than many of the modern substitutes. To-day 
soaps are the scouring agents most generally 
employed ; and the results necessarily depend 
very largely upon the quality of the soap used. 
This is one of the many difficulties in the way 
of successful scouring, for perfectly satisfactory 
soap is hard to find. 

It follows that the scientists who study wool 
have for years devoted much labor and investi- 
gation to efforts to discover some new and really 
scientific process for scouring wool. Many a 
man has thought himself on the point of fame 
and fortune, only to be bitterly disappointed, 
when his discovery was subjected to actual test. 

a difficult prob- Wool is so different in its characteristics from 

lem 

every other product of nature, that one must 
understand it just as a mother understands her 
child, in order to deal with it successfully at the 
stage when it requires the most delicate han- 
dling, that is, while it is passing from the greasy 
to the scoured condition. As a matter of fact, 
the old-fashioned way of cleansing it — the use of 
a given amount of potash and soap and water at 
a given temperature — has never yet in general 
practice been superseded. In the old days, they 
used to scour it in tubs, very much as clothes 
were washed. With the introduction of modern 
machines for cleansing large quantities rapidly, 
42 



the difficulties m the way of perfect results have the solvent 

1,1 ,.»,,. . PROCESS 

become-more manifest. Ihose difficulties arise 
from the impossibility of always maintaining the 
same conditions, as to the heat of the water and 
the strength of the alkali. Dr. F. H. Bowman, 
the English expert in wool, has written that his 
own experience has shown him that in a bowl 
of water and wool, the temperature of the water 
in some parts may almost approach the boiling 
point, 212 degrees F., while in other parts of the 
same bowl it may not be more than 90 degrees 
F., or even less. The best results are impossi- 
ble under such uneven conditions. The mere 
felting effect of a soap bath is sufficient to cause 
material detriment to the proper condition of the 
staple for after handling. 

Theoretically, the most perfect condition in 
which the fleece of the wool could be delivered 
to the card would be precisely the condition in 
which it is grown, without any disturbance be- 
yond the separation of one lock from another, 
and in addition total freedom from dirt and 
grease. This can only be done approximately 
under the best of circumstances, and as a rule 
the approximation is very far indeed from per- 
fection. 

The problem is made the more complex by constituents of 
the number of different elements to be dealt 
with. Chevreul's analysis of a particular sam- 
43 



the solvent pie of merino wool showed its constituents in the 
process r 

greasy state to be as follows : — 

Earthy substances 26.06 

Suintoryolk 32.74 

Fatty matter 8.57 

Earthy matter fixed by grease . . . 1.40 
Clean wool 31.23 



in one 



100.00 
The problem of dealing with these different 
substances presents two distinct phases ; and the 
defects of all previous systems of cleansing wool 
have grown out of the fact that they have un- 
dertaken to remove both varieties of substances, 
the dirt proper and the yolk and fatty matter, 
by one and the same process, and the wool has 
necessarily suffered in consequence. 
Two processes The advantage of the new process adopted at 
the Arlington Mills lies primarily in the fact 
that it is two separate processes. The grease is 
first extracted from the wool, leaving behind in 
the wool, besides the earth and dirt which natu- 
rally accumulate, an abundance of natural pot- 
ash soap, by which it is easily washed, — once 
the grease is removed, — without the addition 
of any other soap or alkalies, in a water heated 
only to a very low temperature. 

The consequence is that under the new pro- 
cess the wool comes from the ordinary scouring 
machine, after having first passed through the 
44 



naphtha process, in a light, fluffy, " lofty " con- the solvent 

dition, which greatly facilitates its manufacture 

at every subsequent stage. The contrast is not 

unlike that between a batch of bread which rises 

perfectly, under the operation of the yeast, and 

another batch which for some scientific reason 

does not rise at all. 

Chemists have long been familiar with the Naphtha and bi- 
fact that the grease of wool can be entirely re- bon l e ° 
moved from the fibre by the use of some solvent 
material, such as petroleum ether (naphtha), 
or bi-sulphide of carbon. Endless experiments 
have been made with these substances, in search 
of a practical method of utilizing them for this 
purpose. These experiments always demon- 
strated that the use of such a solvent left the 
wool in a superior condition ; but no method of 
practically applying them was devised until that 
now in operation at the Arlington Mills was 
perfected. 

Some years ago the late Sir Isaac Holden, Hoiden's experi- 
the Bradford wool comber, experimented with 
bi-sulphide of carbon on a practical scale, and 
at a large expenditure. The results were en- 
tirely satisfactory, so far as the wool itself was 
concerned ; but no practical method of applica- 
tion was devised which obviated the very great 
danger in the handling of so combustible a ma- 
terial. Several explosions occurred, by which 
45 



the solvent two or three persons lost their lives ; and these 
process . x 

accidents finally led the borough of Bradford 

to pass an ordinance forbidding- any further use 
of the process within its limits. So far as 
we are informed, no English manufacturer has 
ventured to take up the experiments at the 
point where Sir Isaac Holden abandoned them. 
But similar experiments, both with naphtha and 
bi-sulphide of carbon, have been frequent in 
France and Germany ; and in the United States 
the practical application of the solvent process 
has been several times attempted, notably at 
Pompton, New Jersey, only to be subsequently 
abandoned on account of the inherent diffi- 
culties of the problem. It is satisfactory to 
American pride that the practical achievement 
of this great problem, over which the brightest 
scientists of Europe have so long been at work, 
should have been accomplished on American 
soil. 
Mrs. Richards' Some time prior to anv of the experiments 

experiments 

named above, the very great advantages of this 
method of cleansing wool were demonstrated by 
Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, professor of chemistry 
in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at 
Boston. In the Bulletin of the National Asso- 
ciation of Wool Manufacturers for March, 1879, 
appears a letter from Mrs. Richards, in which 
she details the results of some experiments she 
46 




THE ANGORA GOAT (FROM WHICH MOHAIR IS OBTAINED) 
ASIA MINOR 



had been making with the natural oil, grease, or the solvent 

. . , , _ . _, . , ' ° . PROCESS 

suint oi sheep s wool. Mrs. ruchards was im- 
pressed by the fact that here was a valuable by- 
product of wool which went absolutely to waste 
in this country, notwithstanding that it was 
carefully saved in France and other wool manu- 
facturing countries, and much of it imported 
into the United States under the name of de- 
gras, for the use of curriers and for many other 
purposes. 

In studying how this by-product of wool 
might be saved to economical advantage, Mrs. 
Richards found that bi-sulphide of carbon had 
been used to some extent in France, but with 
unsatisfactory results, not only on account of 
the heat required to volatilize the solvent and 
the consequent danger of explosion, but also 
because of the high cost of the bi-sulphide of 
carbon. She accordingly turned her attention Naphtha as a 
to naphtha, and quickly discovered that it was 
a solvent in many respects superior to the 
other. Indeed, she learned that there were 
already several patented processes for the use of 
benzine for the extraction of wool grease, none 
of which, she convinced herself, had any practi- 
cal value. But she became satisfied that by the 
use of a higher quality of naphtha, of about 86 
degrees, the results desired could be admirably 
accomplished. As a matter of historical inter- 
47 



the solvent est, we quote here her account of the method of 
process x 

procedure she adopted : — 

" We packed the wool in a closed vessel, and 
allowed the naphtha to remain in contact with 
it for about twenty minutes without any appli- 
cation of heat. The liquid was then drawn off 
and fresh naphtha run in ; the process being 
repeated two or three times, according to the 
amount of grease in the wool. ' Gasoline ' of 
this quality boils at 90° to 100° F., and air of 
50° or 60° F. completely removes it. The 
naphtha has no affinity for water, and does not, 
in this cold liquid form, carry away any moist- 
ure ; very little will be taken out by air of 60° 
F. before the naphtha is all gone. In the large 
way, a current of warm air would now be passed 
through to carry off the absorbed liquid ; in our 
experiments we simply exposed the drained wool 
to the out-door air for a few hours. The wool 
is picked and beaten (the dust being saved), 
then put into warm water and washed without 
the aid of any other substance than the soap of 
potash which is left on the fibre, untouched by 
the naphtha. The wool thus obtained is very 
white and soft, and has a ' crinkly ' appearance." 
Gains from the Mrs. Richards proceeded to state some of the 
naphtha process ac i vanta g es which s he observed, as the result of 

this method of extracting the grease ; she named 
" the more perfect cleansing of the wool, the 

48 



better condition of the fibre for taking dyes, the solvent 

PROCESS 

the ready recovery of the waste product, and the 
prevention of the furthur pollution of streams 
from wool-washing establishments." The only 
disadvantage she would admit was " the inflam- 
mable character of the naphtha, rendering a 
separate building necessary." She added that 
" this is not an insuperable obstacle, as the use 
of the substance for several industries has been 
perfectly successful." 

Time has vindicated Mrs. Richards' judg- 
ment in this respect. The solvent process has 
now been in operation at the Arlington Mills 
long enough to completely demonstrate its suc- 
cess in the two essential particulars : It pro- 
duces better results with the wool than any 
other cleansing process that has ever been ap- 
plied ; and it can be utilized, on a large scale, 
under the proper mechanical conditions, without 
any danger whatever to the establishment or to 
„ those employed in it. 

The history of the introduction of the solvent Mr. Maertens' 

. . n „ -. „ . . experiments 

process is briefly as follows : borne time previ- 
ous to the operation of the plant at Pompton, 
JST. J., already alluded to, Mr. Emile Maertens, 
of Providence, undertook, at the suggestion of 
the Arlington Mills, to devise a solution of the 
mechanical and chemical difficulties to which 
allusion has been made. After a protracted 
49 



the solvent series of experiments, he finally drew up plans 

PROCEfeb • /-* * • 

and specifications, which were studied, amended, 
and more or less tested, and finally an agreement 
was concluded with Mr. Maertens, for the intro- 
duction of the system in the Arlington Mills. 
By the spring of 1895, the experimental plant 
was sufficiently completed to permit of final 
tests on a large scale. In this plant, tests were 
made with about 100,000 pounds of wool ; and 
the results were so far beyond even the most 
sanguine expectations, that there was no longer 
any hesitation about erecting the expensive 
plant which is now in operation. It is located 
at a distance from the other buildings, and con- 
structed with every safeguard that human inge- 
nuity can devise, for the safety and comfort of 
those who operate it. 
Description of The building, which is a wood frame, iron- 

the new solvent m 

plant covered, sits in a copper tank of sufficient depth 

to hold all the thousands of gallons of naphtha 
carried in the reservoirs, should any accident 
discharge the latter, thus insuring against the 
escape of any naphtha into the sewers, streams, 
or adjoining premises. All the pipes, tanks, 
digesters, stills, etc., are electrically connected 
with this copper tank, as is each of the iron 
plates which cover the building. The copper 
tank is in turn electrically connected with the 
neighboring river and the railroad track, thus 
50 



rendering the whole structure and its contents the solvent 

■ cat • PROCESS 

lightning proof. A large gas holder outside of 
the building is filled with an inert gas, or a 
gas which does not form an explosive mixture 
with naphtha vapors or with atmospheric air, 
which does not support combustion, but on the 
contrary has the property of extinguishing fire. 
This gas is compressed and used as the motive 
power to move the naphtha through the digesters, 
tanks, etc., no liquid being pumped whatever. 
This gas is also used as an atmosphere in which 
to carry on the degreasing operation and to re- 
place in the naphtha tanks any liquid being with- 
drawn therefrom, so that at all times the naphtha 
is protected by an atmosphere of a fire-extin- 
guishing gas. When the gas has done its work, The process 
or when it is driven out of the digesters, tanks, 
etc., by incoming naphtha, it is automatically 
returned to the gas holder (to be re-used) by 
way of a trap tank, which acts as a water seal 
and safety valve between the system and the gas 
holder. This method, besides insuring against 
the possibilities of an explosion, prevents the 
loss or escape of any gas or naphtha vapors into 
the atmosphere. Although many thousands of 
gallons of naphtha are in motion all the time, 
there is not the slightest smell to indicate its 
presence upon the premises, the degreasing 
operation being carried on in a closed circuit 
51 



the solvent and under seal, and everything' being absolutely- 
tight. Practically all of the solvent used in the 
operation is recovered. 

condition in The wool having been stripped of its grease 

which it leaves , . 

the raw material by the solvent process, it emerges from the kiers 
or digesters in a perfect condition, without the 
vestige of a smell of naphtha about it. It is 
carried at once to ordinary machines, through 
which it is passed, in tepid water only, and 
whence it issues in a condition absolutely clean 
and sweet, brilliantly white, and in workable 
condition that is perfect. The use of the wash- 
ing machines, under these conditions, requires 
the minimum mechanical action upon the fibre. 
No unnatural soaps or alkalies have touched it ; 
no highly heated water has affected it. The 
natural alkali of the wool being potash, there is 
still left, after the true grease of the wool is 
removed by the solvent process, a natural soap, 
whose base is potash, and in most varieties of 
wool it remains in quite sufficient quantity to 
completely and thoroughly wash the wool free 
from dirt, without the use of any other soap 
whatever. 

Applicable to all Everv varietv of wool or textile hair comes 

wools J J 

from this process of cleansing in better condi- 
tion than from any other that has yet been de- 
vised. Professor Bowman, already quoted, says 
that " the higher lustred fibres, such as mohairs 
52 



and English wools, are even more sensitive to the solvent 

PROCESS 

temperature and tree alkali than other wools, 
and hence in washing all wools, where lustre is 
important, the lowest temperature above 60° F. 
and the perfect neutrality of the soaps are in- 
dispensable." 

Thus the exact conditions which are found by Advantages 

. , ■, , , i> , summarized 

science to be necessary to the perfect prepara- 
tion of wool for the best results in manufacture 
are all present in the solvent process of the Ar- 
lington Mills. The gains which follow are more 
numerous than is at first apparent. One of them 
is a considerable gain in the weight of clean 
fibre secured from a given amount of greasy 
wool, as compared with the old process of cleans- 
ing. Another is a striking reduction in the 
amount of noilage in combing, due to the fact 
that none of the staple is broken, tangled, or 
matted in the washing process. Still a third is 
the great saving in the cost of soaps and alkalies 
dispensed with ; and a fourth appears from the 
use of the wool oil as a lubricant, in the place 
of olive oil, in the subsequent processes of man- 
ufacture. A fifth is found in the saving of the 
bjr-products of the wool, hitherto lost, the wool 
fat and the carbonate of potash, which will here- 
after figure among the marketable products of 
the Arlington Mills. 

These are gains which make for the advantage 



the solvent of the corporation 

PROCESS 



The solvent 
plant to be 
doubled 



Wool suint,or 



The chief gain, and one 
which the corporation shares with all its custom- 
ers, is the superior working qualities of the tops 
and yarns which are produced, the presence of 
a minimum of defective material, and the obvi- 
ous improvement in the strength and softness of 
the goods which are manufactured therefrom. 

Up to the present time the Arlington Mills 
has cleansed, by its solvent process, many mil- 
lion pounds of wool ; and its success has been 
so complete, and the results secured are so highly 
satisfactory, that plans are already prepared for 
the construction of an additional plant of four 
kiers, thus doubling the present capacity, but 
with no greater cost for labor or other expense 
than is involved in the operation of the present 
plant. As the development of the business pro- 
gresses, it is expected to supply facilities for 
applying the solvent process to the cleansing of 
all the wools, of whatever grades, that are used 
in the new combing establishment. By exam- 
ining the ground plan of the Arlington Mills, 
upon which the location of the proposed new 
solvent plant is indicated, it will be seen that it 
is situated so far distant from the other build- 
ings as to remove all danger to any of them, 
even in the improbable event of a fire or ex- 
plosion. 

Before leaving this branch of our subject, it 
54 



will interest our readers to refer to one phase of the^olvent 
it not directly connected with the making of 
tops or yarns, — the saving of the wool fat or 
" suint." This grease is a purer form of what 
is commercially known as " degras," — a French 
word signifying literally "of fat." This par- 
ticular grease possesses certain properties not 
exactly duplicated in any other grease, which 
render it a valuable adjunct in the manufacture 
of leather. The grease of wool possesses also 
exceptionally valuable qualities for admixture 
with lubricating oils, and it is also useful in 
the preparation of oils commonly used in the 
manufacture of woolen and worsted yarns. Its 
curative properties in its refined forms are also 
of undoubted value for medical purposes. 

It is characteristic of our wasteful methods of a valuable by- 

product wasted 

manufacturing in the United States that prac- 
tically all of the degras used by our enormous 
leather interest, aggregating about 15,000,000 
pounds annually, is imported from France, while 
every year there runs away in the streams upon 
which our woolen mills are located something 
like forty or fifty million pounds of wool grease, . 
— enough to supply the world with degras. This 
carries a pollution to the water, which in many 
localities is very objectionable, and will sooner 
or later lead to legislation prohibiting it. In- 
deed, the extensive French industry in degras 
55 



the solvent is said to have originally grown up because of 
process . . ° , . 

legislation forbidding the woolen mills to allow 

their scourings to drain into the streams ; con- 
sequently they have devised methods for saving 
the grease, and have built up a very handsome 
trade out of what was formerly a valueless by- 
product. In France, where wool scouring is 
done by the ordinary methods, the collection 
and refining of the grease is necessarily a pecul- 
iarly nasty process ; and in the nature of things 
the labor employed in the industry is the poorest 
and most degraded that can be found in that 
country. We have no counterpart for such 
labor in this country, and in consequence it has 
never been thought possible to preserve the wool 
grease and extract the degras, in competition 
with the French product, even when there has 
been a customs duty on the latter. 

All this is changed by the new method of 
cleansing wool adopted at the Arlington Mills. 
In the application of the naphtha to the greasy 
wool, the grease collects itself, so to speak, by 
the distillation from it of the naphtha which is 
to be used over again in the process of cleaning 
a fresh supply of wool. 

56 




Magnified Fibres of American Merino Wool 
(From Dr. William McMurtrie's Report) 



CHAPTER V 



THE HYGROSCOPIC PROPERTY OF WOOL 




NE property of all textile fibres, known what this pro- 
as the hygroscopic property, distin- 
guishes wool more than any other, and 
now receives the closest and most scientific atten- 
tion among foreign manufacturers. Thus far this 
characteristic has been almost ignored in the 
United States, in the manufacture of wool. A 
brief explanation will show how" important it is. 
The wool fibre is capable of absorbing a large 
57 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



Importance of 
measuring hy- 
groscopic condi- 
tion 



amount of water without affecting its general 
appearance. 

Exposed to a warm, dry atmosphere, wool will 
retain anywhere from five to ten per cent, of 
moisture ; if stored for some time in a cool, 
damp atmosphere, it will readily take up from 
ten to twenty-five per cent, additional moisture, 
correspondingly increasing its weight. The silk 
fibre possesses this property in a marked but 
lesser degree ; and so important a bearing has it 
upon commercial transactions in so high priced a 
fibre as silk that it has been found necessary to 
establish no less than thirty-seven conditioning 
houses, in as many principal European centres 
of the silk industry, where the hygroscopic con- 
dition of the fibre is determined when bought 
or sold. In wool transactions, the conditioning 
house is a somewhat later development, but such 
establishments now exist in half a dozen differ- 
ent wool manufacturing centres on the continent, 
and in 1888 the first wool conditioning house in 
Great Britain was authorized at Bradford, as a 
municipal institution, under the authority of an 
act of Parliament. 

Chemists tell us that the moisture fills up the 
interstices between the cells of the wool fibre, 
which under ordinary circumstances contain air ; 
and that it permeates also the substance of which 
these cells are composed. It is evident enough, 
58 



since the quantity of moisture contained in a lot the hygro- 

o r> • scopic 

of wool may vary from five to thirty-five per property 

cent, without any perceptible difference in ap- 
pearance, that the matter becomes one of great 
importance in connection with the buying and 
selling of the material. This is one of many 
reasons why wool buying is such a difficult busi- 
ness, and why it is practically impossible to 
determine, with exactness, what the scoured cost 
of any lot of greasy wool is going to be. One 
may ascertain the shrinkage with a fair degree 
of certainty ; but the hygroscopic condition of 
the wool, at the time of purchase, is beyond 
ascertainment by any facilities within ordinary 
reach in this country. Every purchaser takes 
his chances as to the quantity of water he is pay- 
ing for, with every pound of wool he buys, be- 
cause the amount of moisture in the unwashed 
wool is dependent not only on the absorbing 
capacity of the clean wool, but also on the ab- 
sorbing capacity of the potash soaps and other 
salts contained in the yolk. In washed wools The moisture 
other considerations enter ; the wool which has 
the least tenacity, that is, in which the cells are 
more loosely arranged, possessing the greatest 
hygroscopicity. In consequence of all these vari- 
ations, wool is sold more or less on the continent 
after an official " conditioning," which deter- 
mines the exact amount of moisture in any lot. 
59 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



The Roubaix 
conditioning 
house 



Percentages of 
regain 



Cost of condi- 
tioning 



A general description of the methods adopted 
in the continental conditioning houses is given 
in the Report of the Royal Commission on Tech- 
nical Education, from which we make the fol- 
lowing quotation : — 

" The conditioning house of Roubaix, like the 
similar establishments of Lyons and Cref eld, un- 
dertakes the testing of all raw materials and man- 
ufactured goods, with regard to actual weight, 
measurement, and condition. Certain standards 
of condition are recognized in various materials, 
upon which allowances are made for the moist- 
ure which they contain. For example, in condi- 
tioning raw wool a given weight is placed in a 
receiver, through which passes a current of hot 
air at a temperature of from 105° to 115° Centi- 
grade. After remaining here for about an hour, 
the wool is carefully weighed, and 14 per cent, 
is added to the weight to allow for its hav- 
ing been artificially dried, and to restore it to 
its natural atmospheric condition. Upon tops, 
after being artificially dried, an allowance of 18^ 
per cent, is made ; upon wool yarns, 17 per cent. ; 
cotton yarns, 8^ per cent. ; silk, 11 per cent. 

" The cost of conditioning tops is reckoned on 
the bulk from which samples are taken, and is 
about 10 francs per 1,000 kilos (about one 
eleventh of a cent per pound). 

" The house was built by the town at a cost of 
60 



X16,000. It communicates with the railway by the hygro- 

' . . J J SCOPIC 

a siding, so as to facilitate the arrival and trans- property 
port of products to be tested. In 1883 the pro- 
fits, after paying expenses, amounted to £8,000, 
which were entered in the municipal receipts and 
appropriated to ordinary municipal objects. 

" A conception of the magnitude of the work 
carried on may be gathered from the following 
figures, relating to the quantities of wool, tops, 
yarn, etc., conditioned : — 

In 1858 84,268 kilos. 

In 1860 1,998,159 " 

In 1869 11,653,156 " 

In 1871 14,093,867 " 

In 1882 19,425,434 " 

"The conditioning is entirely optional. If 
buyer and seller agree to any transaction with- 
out submitting to the official test and the neces- 
sary expense, they can do so ; but, as almost in- conditioning 

. i i -i .., , ,. . invariably done 

variably happens, either buyer or seller wishes 
to know what he buys or sells, the goods are 
tested, and in case of dispute both parties are 
bound to accept the official decision." 

This book is not a scientific treatise, and 
therefore we shall enter into no more detailed 
description of the manner in which conditioning 
is done. On the continent, as we have seen 
above, the legal amount of moisture allowed is 
14 per cent, on wool, 18| per cent, on tops, and 
61 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 

Standard allow- 
ances for 
regain 



Importance of 
condition 



17 per cent, on wool yarns. In Great Britain 
the standard allowance for regain on wool is 16 
per cent. This standard has been determined 
by scientific verifications, based upon the average 
hygroscopic conditions of the atmosphere in the 
North of England during a year, thus deter- 
mining how much moisture the absolutely dry 
material will regain by exposure to 'the open air. 
Whoever buys wool by this test always pays for 
the same percentage of moisture, no matter what 
may chance to be the actual hygroscopic condi- 
tion of the wool at the moment of delivery. 

Wool conditioning houses are obviously im- 
practicable in the United States, at least for a 
long time to come. Whoever will recall the 
manner in which wool is bought and sold here 
will realize why this must be so. In every other 
great manufacturing nation, the supplies of wool 
are concentrated in a few markets, and bought 
and sold under fixed and uniform rules. Here 
domestic wool is picked up in lots all over the 
country, and every buyer depends upon his own 
judgment as to both quality and condition. 

But such haphazard methods are not necessary 
in the sale of tops and rovings ; nor indeed would 
it be possible to build up a large business in 
them without some definite measure of the mois- 
ture they contain. The factor is of sufficient 
importance to make all the difference between 
62 



buying at a profit and buying at a loss. End- the htgro- 
less difficulties have arisen, in consequence of property 
this variation in moisture, between the buyers of 
imported yarns and those with whom they deal 
on the other side. Ordinarily, the difference 
is against the American purchaser, because there 
is less humidity in the atmosphere here than 
in Yorkshire. Claims for underweight, on ac- 
count of this difference, have frequently been 
sufficient to destroy all profit to the foreigner in 
the transaction. Indeed, the Bradford people 
were fairly driven into the establishment of their 
conditioning house by the loss of trade which 
resulted from their inability to accompany sales 
of yarn with a certificate. The Report of the 
Royal Commission explains how this operated, 
as follows : — 

" Complaints were made by continental man- Necessity for 

knowing condi- 

ufacturers that English yarns when they came tion 
to Roubaix were not conditioned, nor tested as 
to length, and that the English spinners would 
not submit to the Roubaix test. One gentleman 
stated that he had been subjected to so much 
annoyance in consequence of English yarns not 
coming up to the standard that he never bought 
them when he could get similar yarns elsewhere. 
He agreed that everybody took advantage of 
yarns that were known not to be certified. If, 
for instance, he sent English yarn to a dyer, and 
63 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



Standard for 
regain at the 
Arlington Mills 



deficient weight was returned, all the blame was 
thrown upon the spinner, the dyer knowing that 
no certificate of weight had accompanied the 
yarn. In sending English yarn to hand-loom 
weavers, he calculated the necessary weight and 
counts for certain lengths of cloth. Frequently 
short lengths were returned, and the weaver 
would invariably throw all the responsibility 
upon the spinner, knowing there was no proof 
to the contrary. With French and German 
yarns this was impossible, and therefore the 
manufacturer argued that a conditioning and 
reeling test protected the seller as much as the 
buyer, and removed the temptations to dis- 
honesty which exist under the English sys- 
tem." 

Conditions of humidity are not uniform in 
the United States, nor the same at all seasons. 
Without some standard of hygroscopic condi- 
tion, it is evident that an element of uncertainty 
as to weight must always exist in domestic trans- 
actions, as it otherwise would in foreign and 
international transactions. 

It is a part of the purpose of the Arlington 
Mills, in establishing this new enterprise, to 
establish at the same time a hygroscopic stand- 
ard upon which all its business may be based. 
Indeed, the Mills have long been selling both 
tops and yarns on the basis of a fixed allowance 
64 



for regain, and the system has proved entirely the hygro- 

& ' J r J SCOPIC 

satisfactory to its customers. property 

Much experimentation has accompanied the 
determination of the exact allowance for regain 
which should be accepted in the United States. 
As we have already said, the allowance on the 
continent is 14 per cent, for wool and in England 
16 per cent., while the difference between the 
atmospheric conditions, here and in England, 
averages about one per cent. The allowance 
for regain m _ x , at the Bradford conditioning 
house, is 19 per cent, when combed with oil, and 
18.25 per cent, when combed without oil. 1 

1 Mr. Walter Townend, manager of the Bradford condi- 
tioning' house, writes as follows on this point : — 

" I can quite understand the anomaly of lSj per cent, and 
19 per cent, regain in tops for moisture being confusing and 
vague. The explanation is that 18g- per cent, is the true regain 
allowable on combed wool tops on the continent (combed with- 
out oil). But from a long date back, tops combed with oil 
and made in the Bradford District have had a ' Trade Cus- 
tom ' allowance of 19 per cent, (or equal to 2 gr. 8 dr. per lb. 
nearly) for moisture. It was thought advisable by the author- 
ities to continue the 19 per cent, for local trade in top's combed 
with oil. 

" The great bulk of exported tops, are combed without oil, 
and the regain allowance is invariably 18 j per cent., the same 
as continental tops. 

" Yarns here as on the continent bear a regain (officially) of 
18|- per cent. Of course, all these regains refer to moisture only. 

" As to oil, grease, or fatty matters and insolubles (machin- 
ery dirt), there is no ' official standard ; ' and although we give 
official tests of the amount contained in either piece goods, 

65 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



Experiments to 
determine a 
standard 



The experiments conducted at the Arlington 
Mills to establish the true percentage of regain 
for this country have possessed a good deal of 
scientific interest, and have been conducted by 
men thoroughly competent to reach exact re- 
sults, aided by the most perfect apparatus. 

In order that our readers may fully under- 
stand the conclusions established by these exper- 
iments, we will describe them somewhat in detail, 
accompanying our account of them with dia- 
grams illustrating the results of the experiments. 

During the year from the first of May, 1895, 
to the following first of May, Mr. William D. 
Hartshorne, the superintendent of the worsted 
department of the Arlington Mills, had accurate 
weighings taken, ten times a day, at approxi- 
mately the same hours, for every day in the year 
except Sundays and holidays, of a certain skein 
of worsted yarn (the same skein throughout the 
year). This yarn was left exposed in an open 
shed where no artificial heat ever came, and 



yarns, or tops, it is for the buyer to decide or to arrange with 
the seller what limit must not be exceeded. Bradford combed 
tops (in oil) and worsted yarns (in oil) vary according to the 
makers from 3 per cent, to 5 per cent, oil, etc. Some prefer 
more or less according 1 to the nature of the wool, be it hard or 
soft to handle. Soft, silky wools naturally require less oil. 
" Always at your service, I am, gentlemen, 
"Tours truly, 

"Walter Townend, Manager." 
66 























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from which wind, siin, and rain were excluded, the hygro- 

' . SCOPIC 

but which was otherwise exposed to the outside property 
influence of the atmosphere. 

The great variations observed in the weight Description of 
of this skein of yarn were remarkable. The grams 
moisture it contained ranged from a little over 
7 per cent, to as high as 35 per cent, of its total 
weight, often with a variation of from fifteen 
to twenty per cent, in twenty-four hours. For 
the purpose of discovering the law of variation, 
if there was a simple one, all the observations 
for each particular hour were arranged together 
so that a curve could be plotted, representing 
what might be called the average curve of 
change. This curve is represented in the ac- Diagram 1 
companying diagram marked No. 1. In this 
diagram, the figures above the line, 7. 10 , 8. 15 , 
etc., show the hours of the day at which the 
observations were taken. The figures below the 
line, 118. 55 , 118. 53 , etc., show the average of the 
weighings, on the basis of one hundred parts, 
absolutely dry, of this skein at these represented 
hours. It will be seen that the early morning 
hours are the time when the absorbing capacity 
of the yarn was greatest, or, rather, when the 
amount of the moisture it could obtain from 
the atmosphere was the greatest. Between the 
hours of three and four o'clock in the afternoon, 
the amount of moisture absorbed was the least, 
67 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



Diagram 2 



Diagram 3 



and the difference in the amount absorbed, at 
the two periods of time, was for the average 
about two per cent. The lines which could be 
plotted for each day in the year would, of 
course, differ very widely at points from this 
average line, varying according to the temporary 
variations in the condition of the atmosphere. 

Diagram No. 2 shows the line of curve for the 
first day of August, and it is approximately in 
accord with the average line for the whole year, 
but showing nevertheless the natural variations 
from the average curve. 

The third diagram, plotted on a slightly 
smaller scale to allow for two days to be shown 
together, indicates the great variation which 
took place in the weight of the skein of yarn 
between October 31 and November 1. Starting 
at 115 2 at 7.10 in the morning of the first day 
and reaching 118 at 5.45 in the afternoon of the 
same day, the increase in moisture continued 
through the night, as may be represented by the 
dotted line, until, at 7.10 on the morning of the 
next day, the skein obtained the weight of 126 
parts, falling gradually from that point, until it 
reached 116 at the close of the day. These two 
days are chosen for representation by diagrams 
because they show a variation which, while rapid, 
was not unusual nor extreme when compared 
with many other days throughout the year. 
68 











































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SXH0I3M dO 31V0S 









Simultaneously with the taking of the obser- the hygro- 
i-i-ii -t i • scopic 

vations above described, humidity observations property 

were also made at the Arlington Mills, by means 

of the wet and dry bulb thermometers, in the Humidity ob- 

. , i i i> i servations 

usual manner, and a record was kept or the 
so-called relative humidity of the atmosphere at 
the time of each observation, except at certain 
periods of extremely cold weather, when the 
difference of readings between thermometers 
was not sufficient to determine the amount of 
the humidity. These humidity rates and the 
corresponding temperatures were averaged in 
the same manner as the weights of the skein of 
yarn, for the respective hours of observation. 

Diagram No. 4, based upon these averages, Diagram 4 
shows the temperature curve and the humidity 
curve in comparison with the weight curve. 
The weight curve here given differs slightly 
from that shown in diagram No. 1, owing to the 
omission from it of several weeks of time, during 
which the humidity observations could not be 
applied. In all other respects it is the same. 

The relationship between the weight curve weight, humid- 

. ity» an d 

and the humidity curve is instantly perceptible, temperature 
That is to say, the weight curve is highest at 
that portion of the day when the humidity curve 
is the highest. There is also a relationship 
between the temperature curve and the weight 
curve, in that the highest point of the weight 
69 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



Allowance for 
regain 



curve corresponds to the lowest temperature. 
Through the day, until about one o'clock, the 
humidity and weight curves fall rapidly and the 
temperature rises, but after that hour, notwith- 
standing the fact that the humidity begins to 
rise again, the weight curve continues to fall so 
long as the temperature continues to rise, or 
until about 3.30 p. m. The fall of temperature 
and continued rise of humidity from that period 
through the night result in bringing back the 
skein weight to the starting-point of the morning. 

That there is a scientific relationship between 
these three elements is sufficiently determined 
by the experiments whose results are recorded 
in these diagrams. To state that relationship in 
an exact scientific formula may, however, be 
impossible ; and it is altogether probable that 
the height of the barometer has an important 
relationship to the problem. 

But the investigations sufficiently determine 
the fact that the average exterior condition in 
this country, or at least for the particular skein 
experimented with in the city of Lawrence, is 
a little lower, in respect to moisture, than the 
recognized standard in England and on the 
continent : that is to say, it appears to be about 
17|- per cent, instead of 18^. As the establish- 
ment of a standard allowance, as a basis for 
buying and selling, was of more importance than 
70 






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the actual amount of the allowance established, the^hygro- 
the Arlington Mills had already accepted the property 
popular idea that the rate for this country was 
naturally less than for England and the conti- 
nent ; and to be conservative, had placed it at 
15 per cent. This rate has since been adopted 
by several other manufacturers. 

In connection with this question of the hygro- Humidity condi- 

- 1 , tions in the 

scopic property of wool, there is another closely United states 
related, which has a bearing upon the ability of 
American yarn spinners to produce satisfactory 
worsted yarns, and some remarks concerning 
which may not be out of place in concluding 
this chapter. It has to do with the general 
question of atmospheric conditions, in their 
bearing upon worsted yarn spinning. 

In 1885 there was a Royal Commission ap- 
pointed in Great Britain to inquire into the 
depression of trade and industry in the United 
Kingdom, which at that time was keenly felt in 
all lines of enterprise. Many expert witnesses 
were called before this Commission, among the 
number, Mr., now Sir Henry, Mitchell, one of sir Henry 

° Mitchell 

the largest and most successful of the Bradford quoted 
manufacturers and merchants. In the course of 
his testimony, Mr. Mitchell made the following 
statement : — 

" I do not think the Americans will ever be 
able to make yarns so good as we can in this 
71 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



An exploded 
theory 



country. The climate of the United States is 
very unfavorable for the spinning 'of worsted 
yarns. The very great changes that take place, 
the intense heat in summer and the intense cold 
in winter, are very unfavorable to the spinning 
of worsted yarns ; a moist climate is more suit- 
able for them. This does not apply to the same 
extent in Germany. I think it likely that Ger- 
many in time will be able to supply their own 
manufacturers with those yarns." 

This statement is based upon a theory which 
prevailed very generally up to a comparatively 
few years ago, and which, until science had 
overcome the difficulties alluded to, was abun- 
dantly well founded. It accounts in very large 
measure for the extraordinary concentration of 
the cotton spinning industry in Lancashire, 
England. Some one has said that that little 
corner of the island is the moistest spot in the 
world. Yorkshire, where three fourths of the 
wool worked up in Great Britain is manufac- 
tured, is only less moist than Lancashire. The 
supposed greater humidity of the atmosphere at 
points like Fall River and New Bedford was 
among the reasons which led to the unusual 
concentration of the domestic cotton manufac- 
ture at those points. It goes without saying, 
however, that the interior condition of mill 
buildings, unless artificially maintained at a 
72 









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S1H0I3M JO 31V0S 







uniform state of moisture, will differ very mate- the hygro- 
rially from the exterior conditions, particularly property 
in the winter time. The cold weather of winter 
freezes out, so to speak, the moisture of the at- 
mosphere, and although the relative humidity 
may be large out of doors, the absolute amount 
of moisture in a cubic foot of air is very much 
less, and when this air comes within a room 
and is heated up to a comfortable temperature, 
the relative amount of moisture is very much 
below the normal, creating the condition of high 
temperature and low humidity, which is very 
detrimental to the successful spinning of either 
cotton or worsted yarns. 

It was this fact which led Sir Henry Mitchell Artificial humid- 
to state, twenty years ago, that the Americans ' 
would never be able to make as good worsted 
yarns as are made in Great Britain. But he 
overlooked, in his diagnosis of the situation, the 
power of science and invention to overcome nat- 
ural conditions. The difficulties alluded to were 
of a kind which long ago called for a scientific 
solution, which has been found and applied in 
the shape of humidifiers, which enable those in 
charge of a mill to regulate the moisture in a 
room to that fraction of the degree which is 
found in practical experience to be the best 
adapted to the production of given results. 
This is secured at the Arlington Mills by the 
73 



the hygko- direct weighing, upon an automatic balance, of 
scopic , ,: . „, . , . , 

property the absorbing capacity of the particular material 

which, is in process, and the regulation of the 

humidity of each room accordingly. 

Intelligent readers do not need to be told 
that a status of humidity which can be main- 
tained continuously at the exact point which is 
found to be most desirable, is far preferable to 
one which is dependent upon outside atmos- 
pheric conditions, varying, as these latter must, 
from day to day and week to week. In other 
words, better and more uniform results can be 
secured by artificial means than are possible in 
a mill room, whether located in Lancashire or 
Fall River, where nature is left to determine 
the matter at her own sweet will. In evidence 
of this is the fact that the best mills at Man- 
chester and Bradford, like those of our own 
country, now regulate the humidity of their 
spinning-rooms by artificial means. 

If Sir Henry Mitchell were given an oppor- 
tunity to revise his testimony of 1885, he would 
drop from it the paragraph we have quoted 
above and rejoice at the chance. We can and 
do spin in the United States just as good worsted 
yarns as can be spun anywhere in the world. 



Note. — In order that readers interested in this ques- 
tion from a scientific point of view may possess fuller 

74 



data regarding these interesting experiments than is given the hygro- 
in the text, we annej 
moisture by months 



in the text, we annex an analysis of the observations for property 



AVERAGE OP ALL OBSERVATIONS FOR MOISTURE. 



June, 

July, 

August, 

September, 

October, 

November, 

December, 

January, 

February, 

March, 

April, 



1895 = 



1806 = 



I486 % 1 




1687 




1805 




1731 




1729 


17 45 % for year 


16™ 


. as averaged 


22 02 
192s 


by the month. 


I740 




I721 




1721 




1415 





ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS. 





Lowest 
Day. 


Highest 
Day. 


Lowest 
Obser- 
vation. 


Highest 
Observa- 
tion. 


Greatest Differ- 
ence in 24 hrs. 




% 




% 


% 




% 


( 6th) 


% 




May 


1160 


17th 


2is°,27th 


97 


17th 


220 


I and > 

( 27th ) 

28th 


8 2 


6th to 7th 




1301 


19th 


2582 29th 


107 


14th 


276 


100 


5th to 6th 




1495 


25th 


2306 17th 


12 9 


3d 


26° 


1st 


91 


1st to 2d 


August 


1415 


9th 


2200 13th 


12 6 


21st 


220 


13th 


8 7 


7th to 8th 


September. 


12M 


24th 


23" 


11th 


115 


24th 


250 


26th 


121 


26th to 27th 


October. . . . 


1361 


18th 


22" 


8th 


122 


18th 


280 


14th 


118 


28th to 29th 


November . 


1559 


22d 


31" 


26th 


141 


4th 


351 


26th 


191 


26th to 27th 


December 


15" 


27th 


30'o 


2d 


130 


27 th 


337 


2d 


161 


2d to 3d 


January 


1354 


4th 


3426 


25th 


130 


29th 


340 


25th 


15i 


24th to 25th 


February . . 


12 79 


25th 


2902 


6th 


122 


25th 


334 


6th 


I73 


6th to 7th 




11 us 


27th 


2730 


2d 


K)2 


27th 


28» 


20th 


16* 


30th to 31st 




903 


30th 


2189 


2d 


7 3 


30th 


240 


2d 


122 


1st to 2d 



General average (by the month) for the year, 17 45 %. 

Lowest average period, April, '96, 14 15 , and May, '95, 14 8G %. 

Highest average period, November, '95, 22 02 , and December, '95, 19 28 %. 

Lowest observation, April 30th, '96, 7 3 %. 

Highest observation, November 26th, '95, 351 %. 

75 



THE HYGRO- 
SCOPIC 
PROPERTY 



The greatest variation in 24 hours occurred between 
the 26th and 27th of November, '95, and was 19 1 . A 
still greater rate of variation was shown on March 20, 
the observation showing 28 8 % at 7.10 A. M., and 13* % at 
5.45 p. M., a difference of 15.4 % in ten hours. 





Egyptian Weavers at a Vertical Loom 
(From the Tombs of Beni Hussan, Thebes, as found by Menutoli) 



CHAPTER VI 




HOW TOPS WILL BE SOLD 

A VING described the hygroscopic pro- How the stand- 

* _ ard is applied 

perty of wool, and the methods adopted 
to establish a hygroscopic standard for 
the United States, it now becomes necessary to 
explain how this standard is applied, in the sell- 
ing of tops at the Arlington Mills. 

The greatest care has been exercised in deter- 
mining this standard, to fix upon that one which 
will prove the most acceptable to all manufac- 
turers and dealers, in the expectation that it may 
77 



HOW TOPS 
WILL BE 
SOLD 



Why private 
initiative is 
necessary 



eventually come to be a generally recognized 
standard. The managers of the Arlington Mills 
are not alone in the conviction that it is a loose 
and unbusinesslike method of carrying on busi- 
ness, to ignore considerations of this character, 
which bear so intimate a relation to the profit 
or loss of the transaction. It seems more than 
likely that within a comparatively short time 
the practice of making proper allowance for 
regain will become general in this country ; and 
if the Arlington Mills shall succeed in promot- 
ing this simple and sensible reform, it will have 
achieved something for the wool manufacturing 
interests of which it can be proud. 

In the mean while, the conditioning of tops 
and yarns must necessarily stand on a different 
basis at the Arlington Mills from the one it 
occupies in other countries. As already said, 
the foreign conditioning houses are legalized by 
statute, and the certificate of the conditioning 
officer is binding, in all transactions, and con- 
clusive, in case of any dispute. The Bradford 
conditioning house is owned and operated by 
the municipality, and all certificates granted are 
legal evidence in courts of law. 

In the absence of any legalized institution 

here, the Arlington Mills is under the necessity 

of establishing its own conditioning house, and 

certificates of condition will accompany invoices, 

78 




THE ALPACA, PERU 



without charge to the customer. All shipments how tops 

. . WILL BE 

of tops made therefrom will be accompanied by sold 
the certificate of the person charged with this 
duty, and all prices will be based upon an allow- 
ance of 15 per cent, regain ; goods will be sold 
upon this basis, no matter what may be their 
exact hygroscopic condition on the exact day 
and hour of shipment. This certificate will be 
guaranteed ; and the purchaser can satisfy him- 
self as to the accuracy of the tests made, either 
by witnessing the operation or by making the 
test himself. We are aware that this latter 
suggestion may not seem to be altogether feasi- 
ble, in view of the fact that expensive apparatus 
and exact scientific knowledge are necessary to 
determine the proper allowance for regain. But 
it will be clear that no one has so much at 
stake, in the absolutely accurate ascertainment 
of this allowance, as the Arlington Mills, whose 
ability to retain its customers depends upon fair 
treatment of them. 

The sale of tops on the basis of a certificate Fair to buyer 
of condition is the only method of sale which a " 
is perfectly fair to both buyer and seller. On 
no other basis can the seller know just what he 
is selling, or the buyer just what he is buying. 
The need for a definite standard is as important 
in the case of tops as in that of yarns. 

A careful consideration of all these facts has 
79 



HOW TOPS 
WILL BE 
SOLD 



Growth of the 
Bradford condi- 
tioning house 



led to the conclusion that it is impossible to 
look for a large development of business in tops 
in this country, unless at its inauguration there 
is established a thoroughly scientific method of 
ascertaining, with respect to each sale of tops, 
precisely what the hygroscopic condition is at 
the time of delivery, measured by an accepted 
standard as to just what it ought to be, the price 
to be determined by adjustment to that stand- 
ard. No other method will give the purchaser 
perfect security as against the seller, in whose 
hands the power would always otherwise lie to 
profit by the greater or less degree of moisture, 
above the accepted standard, which might be 
found in the top at the time of shipment. 

That we are not too sanguine in our anticipa- 
tion of the advantage our customers will find in 
this method of purchasing our products may be 
fairly inferred from the experience of the Brad- 
ford conditioning house. It is a comparatively 
recent institution there, having been in actual 
operation only since 1890. It is curious to 
read that for many years the Bradford manu- 
facturers were stoutly opposed to its establish- 
ment, holding, with their customary conserva- 
tism, that they had always done business in the 
old-fashioned way, and that was a good enough 
way for them. But after five years' experience, 
nothing would induce them to part with it. The 
80 



best evidence of its utility is the statistical how tops 

p • • i ^ WILL BE 

record or the increase in its business from year sold 

to year, which is as follows : — 

1892 1893 1894 1895 

Total weight materials tested, lbs. 2,576,190 5,286,500 9,560,842 14,350,000 
Total number of tests made, 8,146 15,062 26,168 34,024 

Fees received, £500 1,100 1,530 

Here is indicated an enormous increase in 
business — so great, in fact, that the conditioning 
house long since outgrew its original quarters 
and has moved into more commodious buildings. 
Inquiry of Mr. Walter Townend, the efficient 
manager of the Bradford conditioning house, 
elicits the fact that of the material passing 
through it from year to year, about 55 per 
cent, is for the home trade, the remainder being 
chiefly for the continental export trade. 

It is not difficult to understand why the con- a guarantee 
ditioning house has grown so quickly popular in 
Bradford. It is the guarantee of an absolutely 
honest transaction wherever it intervenes. It 
is equally for the protection of the buyer and 
the seller. Business has now to be done on 
such close margins that exactness is essential to 
success ; and exactness in the products of wool 
is possible through no other instrumentality. 

The different situation in the United States 
not only requires different methods of ascertain- 
ing condition, in the sale of tops, as above indi- 
cated, but it also requires methods of conducting 
81 






HOW TOPS 
WILL BE 
SOLD 



The English 
method of top 
making 



the whole business radically different from those 
which prevail abroad, as we may now proceed to 
show. We have described in Chapter II. the 
Antwerp and the Bradford methods of dealing 
in tops. One distinguishing difference between 
these two systems must now be pointed out, as 
the basis of a demonstration that the method 
introduced by the Arlington Mills combines all 
the advantages of both, without the disadvan- 
tages of either. 

The English combers comb on commission, 
not universally, it is true, but such is the gen- 
eral practice. The manufacturer or merchant 
makes his own purchases of wool, according to 
his needs ; the comber receives it in the bale and 
it passes through his machinery at a certain 
given price for combing, according to the quality 
of the stock and the purposes for which it is 
to be used. To conduct business in this way 
requires a number of separate compartments at 
the mill, one for each customer, into which that 
customer carts his stock, and to which he alone 
has access. Here he sends his own sorters and 
makes his own mixes ; and thence his wool goes 
to particular machines adjusted to his particular 
work. The arrangement requires a careful sys- 
tem of secrecy and surveillance, so that one 
manufacturer shall not know the kinds of wool 
or the qualities of blends which a rival manu- 
82 



facturer is employing. The comber himself how tops 

r J P # WILL BE 

knows nothing about it and cares nothing about S0LD 
it. He makes tops out of whatever is brought 
to him, at so much per pound. Whether their 
quality" is good, bad, or indifferent is the con- 
cern of the manufacturer only, — at least until 
the consumer's turn arrives. 

At Antwerp the comber is himself the pur- The Antwerp 
chaser and owner of the wool which he converts 
into tops ; and it is his business to make a stand- 
ard quality, up to market requirements, by the 
exercise of all the ingenuity he can command 
in the selection and blending of his stock. The 
fate of the goods made from his tops is not his 
concern. What he produces loses its individu- 
ality in a mass of tops, made nobody knows 
where or by whom, and thrown upon the market 
in an indiscriminate lump. The buyer of those 
tops takes his chances ; and if product goes 
wrong, he has no one to fall back upon. 

The Arlington Mills method is neither the The Arlington 

T» IP 1 1 IT • 1 MU1S meth0d 

Bradford nor the Antwerp method ; and its ad- 
vantages over either or both will be instantly 
apparent. The spinner in need of tops can buy 
what he wants, in quality of stock, as at Ant- 
werp, with a guarantee of that quality such as 
Antwerp cannot supply. 

He can purchase in larger or smaller quanti- 
ties, according to his necessities or capital, with- 
83 



how tops out being compelled, as at Bradford, to buy his 
WILL be . 'J 

sold own wool and take his chances of making an 

advantageous disposal of the sorts unsuited to 

his purposes. 

Some of the ad- In a word, the Arlington Mills will comb tops 

vantages . 1 

tor sale, m any quantity, from any quality of 
stock, to be delivered according to the require- 
ments of the manufacturer. It will buy the 
wool and buy it to the best advantage, because 
the immense quantity it annually consumes com- 
pels it to have its agents at all the great wool 
sales of Europe, Australia, and South America. 

The great stocks of wool which the exigencies 
of its business compel the Arlington Mills to 
have always on hand in its storehouses permit 
of a much wider choice, in the selection of sorts, 
than would be possible to any purchaser except 
he were a purchaser on an equally large scale. 
It permits the filling of exigency orders at short 
notice, much shorter than would be possible if 
it was necessary, with each order, to go into the 
market and search for the proper stock. 

It will enable manufacturers to carry on their 
business with a much smaller capital, and to 
turn such capital as they have much more 
quickly and frequently. No capital must be 
locked up in the storehouses. Not until the top 
is actually delivered, ready for the spinning 
frame, does the raw material become a charge 
84 



on the capital, a gain in the matter of time how tops 

r ° . WILL BE 

which may often amount to six months or even sold 

more. 

Above and beyond these advantages is the ad- Quality of stock 
ditional one conveyed in the guarantee of the 
quality of the stock. Long experience in the 
manufacture of tops implies superior knowledge 
as to how to get the best possible results. The 
management of the Arlington Mills believe they 
have solved the problem of superior top making. 
They have investigated the processes in use in 
the best combing establishments abroad. Their 
mills are equipped with the most recent and the 
most perfect machinery, with every appliance 
for perfect work which mechanical ingenuity 
has been able to suggest. Their sorting is con- 
ducted under the most rigid supervision. Their 
system of inspection is so complete that defec- 
tive work can hardly escape detection. All 
these advantages, the result of years of patient 
experiment and study, will be at the command 
of their customers. The risk of mistake is re- 
duced to the minimum. More than that, the 
responsibility for mistake is assumed by the top 
maker. 

The difficulties which surround the manufac- perfect yam 

n i n ma kiiig 

ture of perfect worsted yarn are well known to all 
those who have attempted it. They are greater 
probably than in any other branch of the textile 
85 



how tops manufacture. These difficulties are nearly all 
will be . J 

sold of them incident to the stages of manufacture 

prior to the drawing and spinning. Given a 

perfect top, exactly suited to the yarn required, 

and it is a comparatively simple matter to secure 

a perfect yarn from the spinning frame. The 

spindles work automatically ; with proper care 

and attention, they will always do the same 

quality of work, provided they are always fed 

with a uniform quality of top. 





A Pair of Hand Combs 




CHAPTER VII 

THE MECHANICAL ADVANCE OF THE WORSTED 
MANUFACTURE 

iT the head of this chapter appears an Hand combing 
illustration of a pair of hand combs, 
similar to those with which, up to about 
sixty years ago, all the wool used in the world 
for the worsted manufacture was prepared for 
the spinner. One of these combs, called the 
" pad " comb, was fixed to a post by an iron rod, 
and the raw material, properly prepared, was 
lashed into the "pad" comb, and placed in a 
stove called the " comb pot ; " when the wool 
was properly heated, the comber began his work, 
one comb upon the post, the other held in the 
hand, each comb becoming a working comb alter- 
87 



The combing 
machine 



mechanical nately, the teeth of one passing through the tuft 

ADVANCE J ' r & & 

°^JJSL of wool upon the other, until the fibres became 

WORSTED L 

ture FAC perfectly smooth, parallel, and free from noil. 
This work was always performed at the home of 
the comber, and it was regarded as the most 
delicate and difficult of all the operations con- 
nected with the textile manufacture. Wool 
combers, in the early half of the century, were 
quite the aristocracy of the industry, and re- 
ceived the highest wages paid to any class. 

No contrast between old and new industrial- 
ism is more striking than that between this old 
method of combing and the modern methods. 
On another page appears an illustration of a 
modern comb, charged with wool in process of 
manufacture ; and, comparing its complex parts 
with the above description of hand combing, one 
has no difficulty in accepting the statement of a 
French writer, that its action more nearly ap- 
proaches the deftness of the human hand than 
that of any other machine ever invented. Mr. 
Burnley, in his " History of Wool and Wool 
Combing," has drawn so graphic a picture of a 
wool-combing room that we are tempted to quote 
it. " Here," says Mr. Burnley, " are rows upon 
rows of wool-combing machines. As a piece of 
mechanism, each of these machines is beautiful 
to look upon ; the brightness of its appearance, 
the unerring exactness of its movements, and the 
88 



Mr. Burnley 
quoted 



more than human dexterity with which it han- mechanical 

. . . ADVANCE 

dies the fibre, all combine to excite admiration, of the 

' _ _ WORSTED 

All that is required of the attendants is to see ^anufac- 
that the combs are kept strictly clean and clear, 
and that no obstruction is permitted to inter- 
fere with the ingress and egress of the woolly 
filament. The combs move round the machines 
horizontally, each separate comb forming a 
segment of a circle of combs, and being fed by 
a couple of feeders which imitate the motion 
of the old hand comber and rise and fall with 
great rapidity. Looking across these bright a combing-room 
rows of combing machines, this continuous ris- 
ing and falling movement of steel-toothed in- 
struments constitutes an exceedingly striking 
picture. The horizontal combs convey the wool 
round to drawing-off rollers, and at that point 
the fibre issues from the machines in its combed 
condition, falling in white, lustrous, delicate 
filaments into tall tin cans placed for its recep- 
tion. The beautiful operation, upon which so 
much human ingenuity, skill, patience, and such 
a vast amount of money have been expended, is 
now complete." 

This contrast between the hand comb and the 
machine comb is suggested by the fact that so 
lately as August 14 last, at his princely home 
near Bradford, in England, died Sir Isaac sir Isaac Hoiden 
Holclen, the man who, in conjunction with Sam- 
89 



MECHANICAL 
ADVANCE 
OF THE 
"WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



Richard Ark- 
wright 



Introduction of 
machine comb- 
ing 



uel Cunliff Lister (now Lord Masharn, and 
still an active business man), first brought the 
combing machine to that point of perfection 
where it became possible to operate it to advan- 
tage. These men were given titles by the 
Queen just as Richard Arkwright was knighted 
a hundred years ago, in recognition of their ex- 
traordinary services in the development of Eng- 
land's great specialty in the wool manufacture. 
They both accumulated gigantic fortunes, the 
just rewards of their ingenuity and their indom- 
itable perseverance in overcoming mechanical 
difficulties which other men declared to be insu- 
perable. 

Thus the lifetime of men yet living covers 
the real development of an industry which ex- 
isted in England, in its primitive state, before 
the industrial annals of that country began to 
be recorded. There are in the employ of the 
Arlington Mills men who left the old country, 
where they had been hand combers, because the 
introduction of the Holden and Lister machines 
had deprived them of the occupation to which 
their lives had been trained. It is estimated 
that at the time referred to — between 1845 
and 1855, when the mechanical comb was gen- 
erally introduced in the English worsted mills 
— there were some 20,000 men employed, in all 
parts of the kingdom, in the highly paid and 
90 



highly expert business of the hand combing; of mechanical 

& J r ° ADVANCE 

wool. 0F THE 

WORSTED 

The introduction of the machine was bitterly ^^ PAC ~ 
and even riotously resisted by the hand comb- 
ers, just as the use of the spinning frame had 
been resisted by the hand spinners nearly a 
century earlier, on the ground that it was a 
devil's device to take the bread from the mouths 
of their families. Indeed, Mr. Holden, who was 
a man of great heart and humane instincts, was 
much troubled in the early days of his career as 
an inventor, by the fear that his success would 
bring suffering and want to a great body of in- 
dustrious men. At a later period in his life, 
speaking on this phase of the subject, Mr. 
Holden said that when he established his wool- 
combing works in France there was a popula- 
tion of about 5,000 in the adjacent village, 
while to-day the same town contained a popu- 
lation of 240,000 souls, the great majority of 
whom owed their living directly or indirectly to 
the industries which had grown up out of his 
wool-combing establishment. It would seem to 
be sufficiently plain that this great invention, so 
far from permanently displacing workmen, has 
enormously increased the opportunities for em- 
ployment. 

Sixty years ago, 20,000 wool combers worked what machinery 

J " m has made possi- 

up all the wool consumed by the English b le 
91 



mechanical worsted manufacture, and the industry hardly 

ADVANCE J J 

OF THE 



WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



Possibilities of 
future growth 



had a footing in any other country. To-day two 
million hand combers could not prepare the 
wool which the worsted manufacture eats up 
each year by the aid of machines which employ 
twenty times the number of operatives that the 
industry required before the machine super- 
seded the man in this particular process. 

We recite these somewhat familiar facts, 
because they show vividly how comparatively 
recent the real worsted manufacture is, as now 
organized. It is the newest of all the textile in- 
dustries, from that point of view, and therefore 
the one whose future offers the largest oppor- 
tunities. Revolutionized as to its fundamental 
process within the lifetime of men now engaged 
in it, it offers possibilities of future growth, for 
the measurement of which there is no standard 
in the past ; and it is far more adaptable to 
those changes in methods, the coming of which 
we foresee in the United States, than would 
otherwise be the case. It is still in that state of 
flexibility, incident to the comparative newness 
of the conditions governing its extension, which 
renders an innovation, like the proposed special 
manufacture of tops, by no means so radical a 
new departure or so doubtful an experiment as 
it may appear at first thought. 

The force of this will be made more apparent 
92 



by reverting again for a moment to the sister mechanical 

. , eit p m ADVANCE 

industry or the woolen manufacture. There are of the 

J WORSTED 

but few woolen mills in the United States that manufac- 
ture 

do not spin their own yarns, just as they have 
been doing ever since the American revolution. 
Change from the old methods in that branch 
will necessarily be slow, not alone by reason of 
the conservative influence of long custom, but 
because this very conservatism kills any incen- 
tive to supply the facilities for effecting a change. 
If woolen yarns were purchasable in all varie- 
ties and counts, a market would doubtless grow 
up for them in time. The facility with which 
worsted yarns can be obtained has enormously 
added to the sale of them ; and such, we have 
faith to believe, will now be the case with tops. 

The successful achievement of the combing Rapidity of 
machine may be said to have disposed of the 
last of the fundamental inventions required in 
the mechanical manufacture of the wool fibre. 
There remains no single process, of an impor- 
tant character at least, — no process which in- 
volves any fundamental mechanical principle, 
which is not now performed by machinery. 

As the worsted manufacture was the last to 
come completely under the domination of the 
machine, it has necessarily been the one in which 
the most rapid progress has been made during 
the last half century, and even during the last 
93 



mechanical ten or a dozen years 

ADVANCE J 



OF THE 
WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



Large produc- 
tion with best 
results 



As all the collateral ma- 
chinery now used in the processes preliminary 
to spinning depended upon the combing ma- 
chine, it follows that in their essential features 
all these machines have been brought to their 
present degree of efficiency since the invention 
of the combing machine. In these machines 
improvements have followed rapidly upon each 
other's heels ; hardly a year passes without the 
application of some new device for the expedit- 
ing or the simplifying of the various processes, 
— devices which have made the manufacture 
pratically automatic from start to finish. These 
inventions and improvements, since they have 
involved no modification in the fundamental 
principles of manufacture, have created no such 
stir in the world as did the invention of the 
combing machine ; but they are hardly less im- 
portant, in their general relation to the problem 
of large production with the best results. 

This may be said to be the one great problem 
of modern manufacturing, so far as it relates to 
semi-manufactured articles like yarns and tops, 
into the making of which there enters no ques- 
tion of design, pattern, color, or adaptability 
to popular taste, and where the sole ends to be 
obtained are uniformity and quality. 

Under such conditions, excellence of product 
is possible, in connection with the very largest 
94 



production of which a given amount of machm- mechanical 

• -, n r^ • t -, ADVANCE 

erv is capable, (jriven a proper selection and of the 

J . . . WORSTED 

preparation of stock in the first instance ; given ^rE FA ° _ 

machinery which does its work perfectly and 

uniformly, then the excellence of the product 

may be kept at a uniformly high standard, while 

the production of the machinery continues to 

increase by reason of the various improvements 

to which we have alluded. 

It was at once realized, after the combing Quantity and 

quality 

machine was perfected, that the wool emerged 
from it in a far better condition than had been 
the case with hand-combed wool. There is now 
a uniformity and evenness about the treatment 
of the fibre which it was impossible for the most 
expert hand comber to attain. So it has been 
found that the progressive improvements in 
combing-machines, gill-boxes, back-washers, and 
other preparatory machines which have con- 
stantly tended to increase the quantity of pro- 
duction, have at the same time increased the 
quality of the product. 

To illustrate this from the experience of the 
Arlington Mills, it may be said that important 
instrumentalities in effecting the increased pro- 
duction of the combs now in use there are nicer 
accuracy of adjustment in circles, and the much some recent 

, i'ii mechanical 

more substantial foundations upon which the improvements 
machines are erected. It is self-evident that 
95 



mechanical improvements of this character have as lmpor- 

ADVANCE 
OF THE 



WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



Larger doffings 



tant an effect upon quality as upon quantity of 
production. 

Another illustration will tend to show how 
rapid recent progress in the manufacture is. 
Ten years ago, in all our worsted spinning mills, 
one man tended one comb. At the present time, 
that same man will easily tend two combs, on the 
same quality of stock, and the production of each 
comb is more than double what it was. To state 
the matter mathematically, there has been an in- 
crease of from four to five times in the product 
which comes from one man's labor, due wholly 
to improvements in the machinery he attends. 
These improvements are of such a character 
that the actual physical effort of the workman 
is no greater than formerly, if as great, — and 
the improvements which require less labor on 
his part, in a given result, necessarily result in 
an improved quality of product with the greatly 
increased quantity, because formerly his labor 
very largely consisted in watching and correct- 
ing the defective work of the machine. 

Other illustrations from other departments 
of a mill will show what important results, in 
the way of increasing product while improving 
quality, follow from comparatively small causes, 
— small, that is, in comparison with the great 
inventions which revolutionize the whole methods 
96 



of an industry. In spinning' a doffing would mechanical 

£ 1 • , 01 J !l! j. 1 1 • ADVANCE 

formerly weigh Si- pounds ; the bobbins now of the 

J O A i. WORSTED 

used are so much longer and larger that a dof- manufac- 
fing will weigh from eight to nine pounds, the 
gain in production corresponding, without any 
loss in quality. 

The speed of worsted spindles has been grad- Speed of spin- 
ually increased from 5,000 or 6,000 revolutions 
to 7,000 or 8,000 revolutions a minute ; and the 
methods by which this increased speed have 
been secured are such as to insure a more 
perfect uniformity in the quality of the yarn. 

This advance, in connection with the improved Looms 
methods of putting up and dressing warps, so 
that the ends do not come down so often, enable 
one weaver to attend six looms to-day, as easily 
as he could two looms ten years ago. It is self- 
evident that when six looms require no more 
personal attention than two looms recently re- 
quired, it must be because the looms are doing 
better work than formerly and producing a 
better-woven fabric, with fewer defects. 

The more perfect the workmanship of a given increase of 
machine, the greater becomes the producing productivity 
capacity of a given number of operatives, set 
to tend the machine. You can increase indefi- 
nitely the number of machines attended by the 
single operative, provided you correspondingly 
increase the automatic perfection with which 
97 



mechanical each machine performs its work. You cannot 

ADVANCE . Z, . 

of the increase the efficiency of the machine without 

irK£ FAC " improving the quality of its work. So it is that 
from year to year a given number of operatives, 
in an up-to-date mill, is continually increasing 
the quantity of its product, while the quality is 
always improving. The evolution of manufac- 
turing is a constant record of more machines 
to the man : but in order to understand it, it 
is necessary to remember that there cannot be 
more machines to the operative unless they are 
better machines. 
a popular error T\ T e are reciting facts so perfectly familiar to 

corrected 

manufacturers that it may seem a work of super- 
erogation to repeat them in a publication of this 
character. But it is necessary to repeat them if 
we are to convey to the lay reader an intelligent 
conception of the reason why the constantly in- 
creasing productivity of modern machinery is 
accompanied by a corresponding improvement 
in the quality of the product. The popular im- 
pression is just the other way. It is an impres- 
sion fostered, we regret to say, by many of our 
writers and teachers on industrial economics, 
— men who no doubt state their own impres- 
sions with all sincerity, and who draw erroneous 
conclusions only because they are necessarily 
unfamiliar with the actual conditions which pre- 
vail in manufacturing to-day, and which under- 
98 



lie the extraordinary increase in productivity of mechanical 

J . ADVANCE 

which they are vaguely aware, and which they °, F the 
scholastic-ally assume can be possible only at the ^ure^ 0- 
sacrifice of merit. 

We had an illustration of this tendency of our President Eiiot 
educational leaders in a recent magazine article 
by President Eliot of Harvard University, in 
which he wrote : " The Hessian country girl 
probably wears her grandmother's woolen petti- 
coats, and they are as good and handsome as 
sixty years ago. A Scotch shepherd's all-wool 
plaid withstands the wind and rain for a life- 
time,"' and he adds a eulogy of the old Swiss 
porter's overcoat, which has kept hirn warm 
and dry for twenty-five years. In sharp con- 
trast with these examples the president speaks 
contemptuously of the "all cotton" clothing of 
an American rural community that costs about 
ten dollars a suit, fades promptly, and is gone 
in a season. His obvious moral is that we are 
living in the age of " cheap and nasty " cloth- 
ing : that it wears out about as fast as the 
rapidly revolving machinery of the nineteenth 
centurv can produce it : that all that was for- Hand-made 

L ' % clothe 

merly made in the way of textiles, by the more 
laborious hand processes, was better than any- 
thing now produced by our much boasted mod- 
ern machinery. 

Xow it is perfectly true that the hand-spun 
99 



mechanical and hand-woven fabrics of the last century pos- 

ADVANCE . • . 

of the sessed an enduring quality not inherent in most 

worsted ° u J 

^anupac- f our lighter and more delicate cloths. But 

it is equally true that if there were not some 
apparent and unmistakable gain in the modern 
machine-made fabric, the backwoods farmers' 
wives and villagers, who formerly made their 
own clothing in their own homes, would have 
continued to make it, notwithstanding the ad- 
vent of the machine. Cheaper than formerly, 
and immensely cheaper, the materials of cloth- 
ing undoubtedly are ; and many of them are 
cheaper and poorer than they ought to be, al- 
though it is the market that determines the 
quality of the very poorest stuff that is made. 
The woman who wants a cheap dress can get it 
now, and that she could not do in the days 
that are gone. But the woman who wants a 
handsome dress, of the highest quality and the 
most perfect construction, can also get it, at a 
price very much less than any material of like 
quality would have cost in the old days. While 
the tendency with the cheapest goods may be 
constantly towards a poorer quality, according 
to the price one is willing or able to pay, 
the tendency in the other grades is constantly 
towards more perfect workmanship, with better 
all-round results. The perfecting of textile 
machinery, even when it tends to enormous 
100 



increase in output and constantly reducing costs mechanical 

of manufacture, is always in the direction of of the 

, ..,_,. WORSTED 

a better article. H,ven so simple a tiring as manufac- 

r & TURE 

a worsted yarn will illustrate this constant 
tendency towards improvement. The yarns 
formerly made would never have stood the test 
of the rapid loom work to which they are now 
subjected, because the machinery which spun 
them was not capable of making an absolutely 
uniform skein, each part of which was as per- 
fect as every other part. 

It is a popular habit to indulge in generaliza- 
tions, based upon isolated illustrations, which 
ignore the real economic relation of modern 
methods of cloth-making to the social status of 
the whole people. It implies that with all 
that has been gained, something has been lost, 
without which we are on the whole the losers 
in consequence of these modern methods. It 
is not possible to take that view, so far as it 
concerns the clothing of the people, without 
ignoring certain historical facts having to do 
with the every-day life of the people. The 
long life of the better grade of garments worn 
by our ancestors was due chiefly to the fact 
that they did not wear them as all clothes are 
worn to-day. Before the advent of machine- 
made cloth, the higher priced garments were so 
expensive that they were carefully preserved 
101 



mechanical among the other family valuables, and only 

ADVANCE J J 



OF THE 

WORSTED 
MANUFAC- 
TURE 



McMaster 
quoted 



brought out on stated occasions, to be carefully 
packed away again in their cedar boxes and 
other moth-protecting coverings. They lasted 
because they were cared for ; and they were 
cared for because they were too costly to be 
worn out and replaced every year or two, as at 
present. Thus is explained the presence, in the 
closets and attics of so many people, of the great- 
grandmother's wedding dress and slippers, of the 
curious blue broadcloth dress suit, with its brass 
buttons and tight-fitting sleeves, and the other 
paraphernalia of antique costuming which serve 
to give color and zest to our modern theatrical 
and minuet entertainments. They have been 
handed down to this generation as family relics, 
because they were too precious in their own day 
to be treated as necessities of life. 

Mr. McMaster, in his admirable history, writes 
that " the colonial New Englander had for the 
Sabbath and state occasions a suit of broadcloth 
or corduroy which lasted him a lifetime, and 
was at length bequeathed, little the worse for 
wear, with his cattle and his farm, to his son." 
It is an easily established fact that modern 
broadcloth, machine-made though it be, pos- 
sesses every quality of endurance found in the 
broadcloth of colonial days. It is made all of 
wool, and wool has lost none of the virtues it 
102 



possessed two centuries ago. It only differs mechanical 

r . . . ADVANCE 

in that it is in every way a better and a more OF THE 

J J _ WORSTED 

perfectly made fabric. The suit of clothes made M ure FAC ~ 
from to-day's broadcloth can be handed down 
from generation to generation, if the owner 
thereof will treat it with the same scrupulous 
care, and never wear it except when he goes to 
church. 

It is not the least of the blessings of our time 
that we need no longer fear to wear our best 
clothes because we cannot afford to replace 
them. They are now so cheap, in comparison 
with their cost in colonial days, and the where- 
withal to buy them is so relatively plentiful, that 
our well-to-do people now give away each year 
clothes enough to have sufficed for several gen- 
erations of their ancestors, without thought as 
to how many years of good service are left in 
them for their recipients. 

The habit of decrying modern clothing, as 
a degenerate and inferior production to that 
which distinguished " the good old times," is 
only one of many prevalent methods of looking 
askance at modern progress, and philosophizing 
over the backward trend of civilization in cer- 
tain important characteristics of social and in- 
dustrial life. This habit is twin sister to another 
idea, tenaciously prevalent in certain ultra cir- 
cles, to the effect that nothing which is made in 
103 



mechanical the United States is quite as good as the ldenti- 

ADVANCE .? ° 

of the cally same thing which has been made in some 

WORSTED J m ° 

manufac- foreign country. In no department is this 
notion so persistent as in that which has to do 
with the materials out of which our clothing is 
made ; and nowhere, it may be added, is this 
widely prevalent impression so wholly without a 
foundation of truth upon which to rest. It is 
a fact well known to those in trade that a num- 
ber of our best manufacturers are compelled, 
in order to hold the natural markets for their 

Foreign labels goods, to ticket them with foreign labels, and 
thus foster the impression that they are not of 
domestic origin. It is a common practice for 
well-dressed American men to pay a dollar a 
yard more for the cloth in the suit of clothes 
they are ordering, in order that they may wear 
what they believe to be foreign-made cloth, in 
blissful ignorance of the fact that it was made 
right here at home, and is so perfect in every 
particular that they will by no mischance ever 
know the difference. We do not wish to be 
understood as sanctioning this method of doing 
business. The pity of it is, that it should ever 
be necessary as an antidote to the unnatural 
prejudice of certain native-born Americans to 
the productions of home industry. 

It is narrated that in the year 1770, or there- 
abouts, prompted by the popular resentment 
104 



aroused by the Stamp Act of 1766, the grad- mechanical 

c tt i /-t 11 , ADVANCE 

uates or Harvard College appeared on the of the 

° rr WORSTED 

commencement stage clad from head to foot in manufac- 

° _ TUftE 

garments whose material was made wholly in 
the Massachusetts colony. It was their way of 
showing their aggressive patriotism, at a time 
when the mother country was bending all her 
resources to suppress and destroy the nascent 
industries of the American colonies, particularly 
the making of woolen cloths, which England 
regarded as her own special and peculiar privi- 
lege. 

A little more of the spirit and purpose which 
marked that demonstration of the Harvard boys 
in 1770 would not be amiss in these closing: 
years of the nineteenth century. We stand in 
need of some renewal of the colonial faith in 
ourselves and our destiny, to help the present 
generation to a better understanding of the fact 
that in the social and industrial evolution now 
advancing so rapidly, all things are working 
together for the greatest good of the greatest 
number ; — and more certainly, more rapidly, 
more hopefully, in our own beloved country than 
in any other. 




An Ancient Egyptian Weaver, b. c. 2000 

(From Sir Gardner Wilkinson's "Manners and Customs of the Ancient 
Egyptians") 



CHAPTER VIII 



SUMMARY 



A unique enter- 
prise 




N concluding this cursory sketch of the 
history and future possibilities of the 
worsted manufacture in the United 



States, we will endeavor to put the whole thing 
in a nutshell by summarizing, in as few words 
as possible, the several advantages which seem 
likely to come to that industry in this country 
by reason of the establishment of the Arlington 
Mills top mill. The reader of the preceding- 
pages will have discovered that this enterprise 
is the only one of its exact type in the world, 
because, in offering tops to the trade, it com- 
bines the work of the merchant and the manu- 
106 



facturer in a manner done in no other country, summary 
He will have learned that it is a conservative 
step in the direction of specialization in the 
worsted industry, — an advance movement which 
appeals to the worsted spinner by reason of 
the distinct advantages it offers him ; which 
appeals to the general public by reason of what 
it promises to accomplish in the diversification 
and development of an industry ; and which 
appeals to the people of New England espe- 
cially, because it will be instrumental in increas- 
ing the employment of capital and labor in this v 
community. 

The benefits to the worsted manufacture which 
seem likely to follow may be summarized as 
follows : — 

I. It will enable existing worsted spinning Diversification 

•ci' i • • of product 

mills to diversify their product by buying dif- 
ferent grades and qualities of top which their 
machinery may not be fitted to produce, or may 
be inadequate to produce in sufficient quantities. 
These worsted spinners can, if they choose, 
increase their spinning and doubling capacity 
at a comparatively small outlay for machinery 
and buildings. Where their preparatory ma- 
chinery may need renewal, they can fill the 
space it occupies with new spinning machinery, 
to much greater advantage than by renewing 
their old preparatory machinery. 
107 



SUMMARY 



More spinning 
mills. 



Uniformity of 
stock 



II. The top-mill enterprise of the Arlington 
Mills offers an inducement for the starting of 
new spinning-mill plants. 

a. Because such plants can be started with a 
comparatively small capital. There will be no 
necessity for the investment of the relatively 
large amount of capital hitherto required for 
the preparatory machinery equipment. 

b. Because there will be no longer necessity 
for employing the amount of capital needed for 
purchasing and carrying stocks of wool in suffi- 
cient quantities and sorts for the needs of the 
spinner. 

c. Because the spinner will not require any 
mercantile or manufacturing skill outside of or 
beyond himself. In other words, he need no 
longer be merchant as well as manufacturer, 
but can concentrate his whole attention upon 
the business of spinning yarns. 

III. A third gain will be in uniformity of 
stock, secured by the opportunity to purchase 
tops of a uniform standard of quality; there 
will also be a gain in the uniformity of the 
preparation of the stock, — quite as essential as 
uniformity in the stock itself. 

IV. It will be easy to obtain at short notice 
all grades and qualities of tops, permitting quick 
changes of product. 

108 



V. Purchases can be confined to the exact summary 
quantities necessary to fill particular orders, 

thus avoiding the necessity of carrying a large smaller stock of 

© ^ Y materials 

assortment of raw material of dissimilar char- 
acter; the spinner, in fact, will be obliged to 
carry no more stock than is actually necessary 
for operating his machinery. 

VI. Knowing just the quantity of top pur- 
chased and the price paid, it will be possible to 
figure the costs of subsequent production much 
more closely than at present. 

VII. The time elapsing between the purchase 
of stock and the receipt of payment for the 
finished ooods will be reduced by about one half, Quicker turning 

» u of capital 

thus permitting a larger business on a smaller 
capital, independent of the smaller capital re- 
quired by reason of the smaller plant neces- 
sary. 

VIII. The ordinary business risks of manu- 
facturing will be reduced to the minimum by 

the operation of each and all of the above Less business 
causes. 

IX. The combination of all these results must 
work for the production of better yarns and a 
hio-her quality of manufactured goods at a better 
profit to the manufacturer. 

By the above propositions it is obvious that 
a worsted spinner can equip a spinning mill, 
109 



summary without preparing or top-making machinery, at 
a comparatively small expense ; 

That he can make a contract with the Arling- 
ton Mills for a periodical and regular supply of 
tops for any given time ; 

That such tops will be of a quality to insure 
the spinner the best possible market prices for 
his yarn, and at a cost for top, all things being 
considered, as low as, if not lower than he would 
be able to produce the top himself ; 

That the spinner can stock his mill at a mini- 
mum employment of capital; 

That he can arrange his supply in such a way 
that he will only require in stock what is actu- 
ally needed for running his machinery ; 

That, whenever business cannot be carried on 
at a profit, he can close his spinning mill and be 
subject, while it is idle, to minimum expenses ; 

That he can secure an option on his tops for 
a time long enough to enable him to sell his 
yarn before completing his purchase of tops. 

This will reduce the risks of business to a 
minimum. It will reduce the business practi- 
cally to a mathematical certainty, because the 
spinner runs no risk whatever in making his 
purchase. Given a specific quantity of tops, 
< he knows exactly how many pounds of yarn 

can be produced from them, and the actual cost 
110 



to him of making such yarn ; and there will be summary 
no difficulty whatever in making his sales, under 
normal conditions, upon an actual and not a 
theoretical basis. 

If the deductions above are well founded, the 
new enterprise must prove an advantage to all 
concerned. 




APPENDICES 




A Spinner whose Works never shut down 



APPENDIX A 



THE PRODUCTS OF THE ARLINGTON MILLS 




ITH the development of the Arlington Mills, 
the variety of their products has correspond- 
ingly increased. It has always heen their 
aim to provide for the people at large, and this has 
led them gradually into broadening the scope of their 
work. In addition to the manufacture of a great 
variety of worsted and cotton yarns, they have facili- 
ties for the manufacture of nearly every kind of 
worsted fabric for women's and children's wear; 
whether the weave be plain or fancy, the colors solid 
or combined in plaids, figures, or stripes ; whether 
the fabric be made of white yarns, for subsequent 
115 



products of piece dyeing, or of yarns dyed in the wool or top, 
ton mills commonly designated as slub dyed ; whether the 
width be 36 inches or 54 inches, or the weight 3 
ounces or 8 ounces to the square yard. 

The Arlington Mills dress goods, both in the 
cheaper varieties and in the finer fabrics, are recog- 
nized by the trade at large as being equal to the best 
products of the looms of Europe. The mills have a 
representative abroad, who visits the great centres of 
fashion, and so keeps the home office in touch with 
the newest creations of foreign designers and the 
trend of ideas among those who cater to fashion. 
This knowledge is supplemented by a corps of com- 
petent designers in the mill and principal offices. 

Perhaps the most characteristic feature of this branch 
of the Arlington Mills business is the making of spe- 
cialties for the trade on orders, which have hereto- 
fore been made solely in Europe. This business has 
lately grown into large proportions. Importers and 
others are enabled to place orders for novelties in 
cloths, with the understanding that the same article, 
or any article so closely resembling it as to conflict 
with its sale, will not be made by the Arlington Mills 
for other houses. In this way the individuality of 
each firm as to taste or design can be reserved to its 
own use and advantage. 

The products of the Arlington Mills looms may 
be roughly divided into two great classes, the gen- 
eral subdivisions under each of which are indicated 
< below. 

116 



PRODUCTS OF 
THE ARLING- 
TON MILLS 



A. Women's and Children's Dress Goods 

These goods are sold to the general dry-goods 
jobbing trade. The greater part of the product is 
made solely on orders, taken months in advance from 
samples made from original designs. This class of 
goods includes, in addition to a great variety of plain 
and staple goods, such as All Wool Serges and Che- 
viots, Cotton Warp Cashmeres, plain Alpaca and 
Mohair fabrics, an immense variety of fancy woven 
effects produced by a union of the Jacquard and 
box loom, combining cotton yarns in their natural 
state, and also in the silk-finished state (which can 
hardly be distinguished from silk), silk yarns, and 
worsted yarns in numberless colorings. In fact, 
the Arlington Mills have the capacity for making 
any kind of women's and children's dress goods that 
it is possible to weave on power looms. A not incon- 
siderable feature of the business is the production 
of cloths suitable for manufacturers of waterproof 
garments. 

B. Coat Linings 

These goods are sold exclusively on orders to 
wholesale houses, which distribute them to clothiers 
and tailors. The business is lai'ge, and rapidly in- 
creasing under existing conditions. These coat linings 
comprise a great variety of weaves and colorings, and 
are produced by combining cotton warps with the 
finest Australian wool, as well as with what are 
117 



products of known as lustre wools (which are of English origin) 

THE ARLING- - , . , , „. . . . ' 

ton mills and mohair and alpaca. Ihey are in universal use 
for the lining of men's wear garments. 

II 

From the manufacture of the finished product, we 
now turn to a branch of the business which is of 
equal importance, — the manufacture of tops, rovings, 
and yarns for sale, in addition to what are required 
for their own consumption. These may be divided 
into four great classes. 

A. Worsted Tops 

In the manufacture of these, nearly all the varie- 
ties of combing wools grown in the world are used : 
Australian Merino and Crossbred wools ; South 
American Merino and Crossbred wools ; Cape Me- 
rino wools ; Merino and Crossbred wools grown in 
the United States and Territories ; the lustrous wools 
of pure English blood ; Mohair from Asiatic Turkey 
and Alpaca from the Andes. Tops made of all 
these varieties of fibres are offered to worsted spin- 
ners at the most advantageous prices and terms. 

B. "Worsted Yarns 

The Arlington Mills offer for sale yarns made on 
both the English and French systems of spinning, 
from tops already described. While there is a great 
variety of uses to which these yarns are put, the prin- 
^ cipal sales are to the weavers of men's wear goods 

and to the knitters of underwear and hosiery. These 
yarns are made in all practical degrees of fineness, 
118 



in the erav, in solid colors, in fancy mixtures, double products of 

*= ■" "1 t -,. -, THE ARLING- 

and twists, and Jasper effects, and are delivered to ton mills 
the purchaser in any form he may require for sub- 
sequent use. 

The most striking characteristic of the Arlington 
Mills' yarns used for men's wear goods is that they 
are fast in color. By this we mean that the colors 
do not change during the process of scouring, nor do 
they change after the goods are manufactured, by 
exposure to the light. In this most essential feature 
they are considered superior to any foreign yarns. 

Included in the worsted yarns are Lustre, Mohair, 
and Alpaca yarns, in their natural state, and also 
colored or genapped. 

C. Cotton Yarns 

The Arlington Mills also manufacture, in addition 
to their own requirements, combed cotton yarns for 
sale to weavers, loom harness manufacturers, knitters, 
and thread and lace curtain manufacturers. These 
yarns are manufactured from the longest staple 
Egyptian, American, and Sea Island cottons. They 
are spun in all numbers up to No. 100, in single and 
two or more ply, and are delivered in all the varie- 
ties of forms required by the purchaser for subse- 
quent use. 

The Sea Island yarns are sold largely to the manu- 
facturers of bicycle tire cloth, which is the base of 
the rubber bicycle tire. Until within a very short 
time, all of the brass bobbin yarn used by lace manu- 
facturers in the United States has been imported 
from England, but now the Arlington Mills are fur- 
119 



products of nishing such yarns, equal in every respect to the hest 

THE ARLING-- „ . _ 

ton mills of those imported. 

The most recent development of the cotton yarn 
trade is the process of Mercerizing. By this process 
cotton yarns are given a brilliant lustre almost equal 
to that of silk, and can be substituted for silk in 
many classes of goods. The mills are now prepared 
to furnish these yarns in quantity. 

D. Worsted Merino Yarns 
The Merino yarns of commerce are made of carded 
wool and cotton, mixed together in the process of 
carding. It is a new departure to make the same 
character of yarns of both combed wool and combed 
cotton, blended in such proportions as the consumer 
may require for his trade. The Arlington Mills are 
engaged in this business and offer such yarns for 
sale. While the immediate demand is for knitted 
underwear, where such a mixture has an advantage 
over all-wool yarns, in that garments so made will 
shrink less in washing, yet a large demand is expected 
for them from all classes of weavers, who wish to 
combine cheapness, lightness, and mixed effects in 
their fabrics. By the use of these yarns, contrasting 
colors can be secured in a simple and economical 
way. 




APPENDIX B 

COLUMBUS SIGHTING AMERICA 

The picture on the following page is a reproduc- 
tion of a work designed and woven at the Arlington 
Mills, as a souvenir of the four hundredth anniver- 
sary of the discovery of America by Columbus, and 
a memorial of the great World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion. It conveys a vivid impression of the possibili- 
ties of modern skill and machinery in the way of 
artistic weaving. 

The original painting, of which this is a copy, is 
in the National Gallery at Berlin, Germany, and has 
a world-wide reputation. It is painted on canvas, 
and is 4 feet by 4 feet 7 inches. The artist was 
Herman Freihold Pluddeman, a famous painter of 
historical subjects. He was born at Kolberg, Ger- 
many, July 17, 1809, and died in Dresden, June 24, 
1868. He was first instructed in Magdeburg by 
Lieg, then a pupil of Begas, in Berlin, and from 1831 
to 1837 he was a member of Dusseldorf Academy 
under Schadow. While there, in the year 1836, he 
painted his famous picture of " Columbus Sighting 
America." He remained at Dusseldorf until 1848, 
when he removed to Dresden, where he continued to 
live until his death in 1868. He painted chiefly sub- 
jects from mediaeval history, saga, and poetry, in the 
spirit of the romanticists. He was also a well-known 
121 



columbus illustrator of several popular works, but he seems 

SIGHTING , , . , , „ , 

amkrica to have made a special study or the great events 
in the life of Columbus, for among his works are 
the following : Columbus Sighting America (1836) ; 
Death of Columbus (1840) ; Entry of Columbus into 
Barcelona (1842) ; Columbus at La Rabida (1845) ; 
Columbus in Chains Landing at Cadiz (1848) ; Co- 
lumbus Disputing with the Junta at Salamanca 
(1856). 

The following facts are of interest in connection 
with the preparation, design, and weaving of the 
picture, and will give some idea of the magnitude 
of the work involved. 

A photograph of an engraving, made from the 
original painting, was first taken, and from that pho- 
tograph the weaving design was made on an enlarged 
scale upon cross-section paper, each square of which 
is intended to represent the position of a thread in 
the warp and filling in the cloth. This design sheet 
was 6 feet 5 inches wide and 8 feet 9 inches high, 
and was a picture in itself, the figures being larger 
than life size. 

The loom used was an ordinary power loom with 
the Jacquard attachment. The Jacquard machine 
was the invention of a native of Lyons, France, 
Joseph Marie Jacquard, whose name it bears. His 
attention was first directed to the subject of me- 
chanical invention by seeing in a newspajjer the offer 
of a reward for a machine for making nets. He pro- 
< duced the machine, but did not claim the reward. 

The circumstances becoming known to some persons 
in authority in Paris, Jacquard was sent for, intro- 
122 




COLVMBVS SIGHTING AMERICA 

DESIGNED AND WOVEN AT THE 

ARLINGTON MILLS 

LAWRENCE MASSACHVSETTS V.S.A. 



duced to Napoleon, and was employed in correcting columbus 
the defects of a loom belonging to the state. Jac- America 
quard stated that he could produce the effects in- 
tended to be produced on this loom by far simpler 
means, and as a result he made, in 1801, the ma- 
chine bearing his name. He returned to Lyons with 
a pension of one thousand crowns, but his invention 
was regarded with so much distrust and jealousy by 
the weavers that they attempted to suppress it by 
violent means. 

The object of the Jacquard loom is to facilitate 
the production of elaborate designs upon textile fab- 
rics. The Jacquard " engine," as it is called, is 
placed above the loom, and its object is to so separate 
the threads of the warp that the shuttle, in passing 
between them with the filling, will produce the de- 
sired design. Each warp thread is passed through 
an eye in a cord, hung in a vertical line from the 
Jacquard engine. In the engine is a revolving 
square bar, perforated with holes, and each hole rep- 
resents a thread in the warp. By means of a 
mechanical attachment of levers and hooks, these 
vertical cords, and the warp threads attached, are 
lifted by the action of the ends of the levers pressing 
against the revolving square bar. If a hole is oppo- 
site a lever the corresponding warp thread is lifted, 
but if the hole were covered, the thread would not 
be lifted. A long series of pasteboard cards are 
strung together, each card being the size of one face 
of the revolving bar, and by means of the mechan- 
ism these cards are passed in succession over the bar 
and in front of the ends of the levers, and wherever 
123 



columbus a hole is punched in a card, in front of a hole in the 
America bar, the end of the lever opposite that point passes 
through the hole, and in consequence, by the action 
of the levers and hooks, the warp thread is lifted. 
By means of these cards and the holes punched in 
them the motion of the warp threads is regulated, 
and the number of holes and cards necessary depends 
on the design to be woven. 

The loom upon which this picture was woven was 
62 inches wide, driven by steam power, and operated 
by one man. It was fitted up with four Jacquard 
engines ; two of these had 400 hooks and cords, and 
two of them 304 each. The engines were placed 
back to back, the cards running in front of, as well 
as back of, the loom, and all four engines operated 
at one and the same time upon the warp. 

Number of cards used .... 21,024 

Number of boles in cards . . 4,162,750 

Length of cards, placed end to end 4^ miles 

a j i^ j ( 5,140 sq. ft., or floor 

Area covered by cards . ■< ' i » 

( space over 70 ft. sq. 

Weight of cards . . . . 875 lbs. 

Ends of warp per inch .... 117 

Total ends of warp .... 3,850 

Picks per inch, white yarn . . . 120 

Picks per inch, colored yarn . . . 120 

Total picks per inch .... 240 

Speed of loom, picks per minute . 100 

Total picks in each picture . . . 5,250 

The pictures are made of the finest silk yarn, and 
were woven two abreast in the loom, each picture 
being 16| in. by 22f in. in size, and the time required 
124 



to weave the two pictures was one hour and one columbus 

anarter SIGHTING 

quarter. America 

The silk yarn used in each picture, if extended in 
a straight line, would measure 10,814 feet, or a little 
over two miles. 




APPENDIX C 

THE FIRST CARDING ENGINE BUILT IN AMERICA 

The picture of a primitive carding engine, which 
is published by the courtesy of the Davis & Furber 
Machine Company, of Andover, Mass., is a repro- 
duction of what is undoubtedly the oldest machine 
of this description now in existence in the United 
States, and probably the very first carding engine 
that was ever used in the wool manufacture in this 
country. While there is no doubt as to its identity, 
some question exists as to whether it was built in the 
United States or in England. The facts, so far as 
known, are given in the following letter from the 
Davis & Furber Machine Co. 

North Andover, Mass., Nov. 26, 1897. 
Mr. William Whitman, Treasurer Arlington 
Mills : — 
Dear Sir, — Agreeable to your request, we give 
you copy of what data we have relating to the old 
carding machine now in our possession. This ma- 
chine was on exhibition at the Mechanics' Fair in 
Boston in 1890, and to it was attached a card bear- 
ing the following inscription : — 

" The machine was built in England in 1792 ; and, 
as the laws at that time did not permit the exporta- 
tion of textile machinery, this machine was shipped 
126 



IN AMERICA 



in two parts and in different vessels, and probably the first 
called agricultural machinery. John Lees and Wil- gine built 
liana Marland, afterwards of Andover, Mass., crossed 
the ocean with one part of it, and John and Walter 
Scholtield in another vessel with the other part of it. 
It was put together in Charlestown, Mass., and run 
there for about three years by John Lees ; also in 
Byfield Parish about four years by said Lees, in con- 
nection with William Bartlett, a wealthy ship-owner 
of Newburyport ; it was afterwards run in Nashua, 
Jaffrey, and Marlboro, New Hampshire, by a Mr. 
Fiske, and for the last fifty-three years by James 
Townsend, of Marlboro, New Hampshire, who is 
now ninety-three years of age." 

The carding machine came into the possession of 
Hon. Rufus S. Frost, of Boston, and on his death 
was purchased by us. Subsequently, Mr. S. N. D. 
North, Secretary of the National Association of Wool 
Manufacturers, became interested in the carding 
machine ; and in an attempt to trace its origin, re- 
ceived the following letter from the Hon. Royal C. 
Taf t, of Providence, Rhode Island : — 

Providence, R. I., March 19, 1896. 
S. N. D. North, Secretary : — 

Dear Sir, — Your favor of the 17th inst. is received 
and noticed. Sonie years since I sent to Hon. Rufus S. 
Frost a copy of my book, " Some Notes on the Woolen 
Manufacture of the United States," from which resulted 
some correspondence relative to the first carding machine 
built in this country. Mr. Frost supposed that his card- 
ing machine was the one referred to in my narrative, and 
that it was imported from England. His authority, as 
127 



the first he admitted, was only a statement which he supposed to 

CARDING EN- v eor „ ect 

QINE BUILT ue ^ olleLt - 

IN AMERICA M ri Frost was quite positive that he owned the Schol- 
field machine, and the only doubt he had was as to 
whether it was made in England or at Newburyport, but 
he came to the conclusion that it was made at the latter 
place. 

I myself have no doubt that he has the Scholfield ma- 
chine, as John Scholfield left the company at Newbury- 
port in operation with a new manager, and started a 
small mill in Stonington, Ct., where it is presumed he 
built new machinery, the building and starting of carding 
machines having been done by both Arthur and John 
Scholfield in several places. 

The evidence upon which I based my statement was 
given me by James Scholfield in 1872, when he was 
eighty-eight years old, and verified in 1882, when I re- 
wrote the book. James Scholfield was nine years old 
when the Scholfields moved to Newburyport, and eleven 
years old when the Byfield factory was started. Mr. 
Scholfield was perfectly clear in his recollection, and 
positive that the machine was built under his father's 
direction at Newburyport. Mr. Frost was positive that 
it was the first machine, but in face of the direct evidence 
I had from Mr. Scholfield, doubted if he was correct in 
claiming the machine to have been made in England. 
Our correspondence was only a short time before the 
decease of Mr. Frost. What led me and the Scholfields 
to our conclusion was a written statement made by a 
grandson of John Scholfield, who was desirous his grand- 
father should receive the credit which was his due ; and 
accordingly prepared and left behind him the substance 
< of what I certified through James Scholfield. It was a 

common subject of talk among the Scholfield family, 
several of whom have written me thanking me for the 
128 



investigation which I made, and for giving credit to their the FIRST 
grandfather for what they had all known from him and q^^ ^uilt 
his children. IN America 

Royal C. Taft. 

From which you will see there is some doubt as 
to the real history of this machine. 
Very respectfully yours, 

Davis & Furber Machine Co. 

The advance of one hundred years in carding ma- 
chinery may be judged by a study of the picture of 
the Scholfield carding engine in comparison with that 
of the modern card which is given herewith. 




APPENDIX D 

FACTS ABOUT THE PROPERTY OF THE ARLINGTON 
MILLS 

The land comprises 74.9 acres, divided as fol- 
lows : — 

Land in mill yards .... 34.7 acres. 
Land in Methuen .... 18.8 " 
Land under pond and river . . . 21.4 " 

The floor space of the buildings is as follows : — 
Worsted Department 





Area of Floor Space. 


Storehouse .... 


. 73.140 sq. ft. 


Solvent Plant . 


11.961 " 


Top Mill .... 


. 370.458 " 


Spinning Mills . 


304.838 " 


Dyeing and Finishing Mills . 


. 96.391 " 


Weaving and Dressing Rooms 


150.207 " 


Repair Shop .... 


. 25.521 " 




1,032.516 sq. ft. 



130 



Cotton Department 



Storehouse 
Spinning Mill 
Twisting Mill 



Worsted Department, floor space 
Cotton Department, floor space 

Total floor space 

Total Horse Power . 



Area of Floor Space. 

23.844 sq. ft. 
174.225 " 
63.126 " 

261.195 sq. ft. 

. 23.7 acres. 
6.0 " 



29.7 acres. 
8,000 H. P. 




INDEX 



INDEX 



Advantages of the new enterprise, 
106. 

Allowances for regain, 60, 62, 70. 

Alpaca fabrics, 117. 

Analysis of hygroscopic observa- 
tions (note), 75. 

Ancestors, clothing of our, 100. 

Antwerp top market, the, 18, 20, 83. 

Argentina, wools of, 18. 

Arkwright, Richard, 90. 

Arlington Mills, the, 10. 11, 23, 28, 
64, 78, 83, 95, 110, 115. 

Artistic weaving, 121. 

Australasia, wool clip of, 17. 

Automatic stokers, 36. 

Bartlett, William, 127. 

Begas, the artist, 121. 

Belgians, the, 18. 

Belgium, worsted manufacture in, 

11. 
Benefits to worsted manufacture, 

106. 
Berlin National Gallery, 121. 
Bicycles, 15. 

Bi-sulphide of carbon, 45, 47. 
Blankets, 9. 

Blending of stock, 82, 83. 
Boiler-house, the, 36. 
Boilers, 36. 

Bowman, Dr. F. H., quoted, 43, 52. 
Bradford, England, 6, 18, 63, 83. 
Bradford Chamber of Commerce, 

memorial of, 5. 
Bradford conditioning house, 58, 

63, 65, 78, 80. 
Bradford " Observer" quoted, 18. 
British Board of Trade, statistics 

of, 8. 
Burnley, James, quoted, 88. 
Burry wools, 19. 
Buxton & Ronald, quoted, 20. 
Byfield parish, 127. 
By-products of wool, 53. 



Capital, investment of, in top-mak 
ing machinery, 25, 108. 



Capital, smaller, required, 84, 108, 
110. 

Carbonate of soda, 41. 

Carding engine, the first built in 
America, 126. 

Carding machine, the modern, 129. 

Census statistics of worsted mills, 7. 

Certificate of condition, 79. 

Chalmers street, 32. 

Charlestown, Mass., 127. 

Cheap clothing, 99. 

Chevreul's analysis of wool, 44. 

Civil war, the, 6. 

Clothing, modern, 99. 

Coat linings, 117. 

" Columbus Sighting America," 
121. 

Comb, the modern, 88. 

Combing machine, increased pro- 
duct of, 96. 

Combing machine, results of its in- 
vention, 17. 

Combing-room, the, 33. 

Combing-room, description of a, 88. 

Complete organism, a, 37. 

Condition, certificate of, 79. 

Conditioning, methods of, 60, 78. 

Continental methods of selling tops, 
59. 

Cost of conditioning, at Roubaix, 
60. 

Cotton yarns, 115. 

Cotton yarns, allowance for regain, 
60. 

Curve of change in humidity, 67. 

Davis & Furber Machine Co., letter 
from, 126. 

Degras, French, 47. 

Degras, imports of, 55. 

Description of new solvent plant, 50. 

Diagram No. 1, 67 ; diagram No. 2, 
68 ; diagram No. 3, 68 ; diagram 
No. 4, 69. 

Doffing, weight of, 97. 

Dress goods, women's and chil- 
dren's, 117. 

135 



Drosophores, 35. 

Duty 011 tops and rovings, 26. 

Early woolen mills, the, 14. 

Electric motor system, 38. 

Eliot, President, quoted, 99. 

Engiue, the, 30. 

England, allowance for regain in, 62. 

England, worsted manutacture in, 
15, 29. 

English worsted manufacture, sta- 
tistics of, 11. 

Error, a popular, 9S. 

Evolution of American wool manu- 
facture, 14. 

Explosion, no danger of, 49, 50. 

Factory system of wool manufac- 
ture, 3. 

Fall River, 72. 

Fire escapes, 35. 

Flannel dress goods, 9. 

Foreign goods, preference for, 104. 

France, wool scouring in, 56. 

French worsted manufacturers, the, 
11, 21. 

Frost, Hon. Rufvis S., 127. 

"Futures," dealings in top, 19. 

Gains from solvent process of scour- 
ing, 53. 

Gains from establishment of top 
manufacture, 107. 

Genesis of the American worsted 
manufacture, the, 1. 

Germany, worsted spinning in, 72. 

Grandmother's wedding dress, the, 
102. 

Grease of wool, qualities of, 55. 

Guarantee, a, 85. 

Hamilton Woolen Mills, 4. 
Hand combing described, 87. 
Hand combers, the English, S8. 
Handling the material, 37. 
Hartshorne, William D., 66. 
Harvard graduates of, 1770, 105. 
Heating, 35. 
Heilman comb, the, 17. 
Holden comb, the, 17. 
Holden, Sir Isaac, 17, 45, 89, 91. 
Holden & Sons, 17. 
Home market for tops, a, 22. 
" Homespun," 14. 
Humidity and weight curve, 69. 
Humidity, conditions of, 64. 
Humidity, observations of, 69. 
Hydraulic elevators, 35. 
Hygroscopic property of wool, the, 
57. 



Imports of tops and rovings, 26. 



Initial step in wool manufacture, 

the, 41. 
Inspection of tops, 84. 

Jacquard effects, 10. 
Jacquard labrics, 117. 
Jacquard, Joseph Marie, 122. 
Jacquard loom, the, described, 123. 

Lancashire, humidity of, 72. 
Language of the wool manufacture, 

xi. 
Lees, John, 127. 
Lister comb, the, 17. 
Lister, Samuel Cunliff, 90. 
London wool auctions, 17. 
Looms, modern, 97. 
Lottery, Antwerp top market, a, 20. 
Lustre wools, the cleansing of, 53. 

McLaren, definition of top, ix. 
McMaster, John B., quoted, 102. 
Machinery capacity of the top mill, 

39. 
Machinery, perfection of modern, 

96. 
Machinery, worsted, 10. 
Maerteus, Emile, 49. 
Manchester Mills, 7. 
Mirland, William, 127. 
Marlboro, N. H., 127. 
Masham, Lord, 90. 
Mechanical advance of the worsted 

manutacture, the, 87. 
Mercerizing, 117. 
Mitchell, Sir Henry, quoted, 71. 
Mohair fabrics, 117. 
Mohair, 52. 
Moisture, absorption of, by wool and 

tops, 58. 
Moisture, average in the air, 70. 
Morrell's Textile Directory, 16. 
Mousseline delaines, 5. 

Naphtha, as a scouring agent, 45, 

47. 
Napoleon, 123. 
Nashua, N. H., 127. 
New Bedford. Mass., 72. 
Newburyport, Mass., 127. 
New spinning-mill plants, 108. 
Noble comb, the, 17. 
Noilage, reduced, 53. 
Noils, definition of, x. 
Norwich, England, xi. 

Old-fashioned way of scouring wool, 
42. 

Pacific mills, the, 7. 
"Pad" comb, the, 87. 
Percentage for regain, true, 66. 



136 



Petroleum ether as a scouring agent, 

45. 
PliiJdeman, Herman Freihold, 121. 
Pollution of streams, 55. 
Pompton, New Jersey, 40, 49. 
Poorly scoured wool, 41. 
Population of the United States, 2. 
Potash, the, of wooi, 52. 
Problem of modern manufacturing, 

the, 94. 
Products of the Arlington Mills, 115. 

Quality of stock, 84. 
Quantity and quality, 95. 

Regain, true percentage of, C6. 
Rheims, top mill at, 117. 
Richards, Mrs. Ellen H., 46 ; quoted, 

48. 
Risk, minimum, of business, 110. 
River Plate tops, 20. 
Roubaix, conditioning house at, 60. 
Roubaix top market, the, 18. 
Roubaix, top mill at, 17. 
Royal Commission on Technical 

Education quoted, 36, 60, 63. 

Scholfield, James, 127. 

Scliolfield, John, 127. 

Scholfield, Walter, 127. 

Scouring agents, 42. 

Scouring machines, 41. 

Silk, allowance for regain, 60. 

Silk fibre, hygroscopic property of, 

58. 
Soaps for scouring wool, 42. 
Solvent plant, location of, 54. 
Solvent process for cleansing wool, 

the, 40. 
Sorting-room, the, 33. 
Sorts, wide choice in selection of, 

84. 
South America, wool clip of, 17. 
Specialization, tendency to, 15. 
Speed of spindles, 97. 
Spindles in English worsted mills, 



Spindles, speed of, 97. 

Spiuning mills, less capital required 
for, 29, 84. 

Stairways, 35. 

Standards of condition, 60, 78, 79. 

Statistics of American worsted mills, 
7. 

Statistics of Bradford conditioning 
house, 81. 

Statistics of Roubaix conditioning 
house, 61. 

Statistics of English worsted manu- 
facture, 11. 

Stock, uniformity of, 108. 

Storage basement, the, 38. 

137 



Storage capacity, 34. 
Storage-room, the, 33. 
Streams, pollution of, 55. 
Suint, wool, 54. 
Summary, 106. 
Supervision, 84. 

Taft, Hon. Royal C, letter from, 

127. 
Tariff of 18G7, the, 6. 
Tariff, the, on tops, 27. 
Tariffs, early, the, and worsteds, 5. 
Temperature, regulation of the, 34. 
Terminal top markets, the, 21. 
Testing the solvent process, 50. 
Top bins for storage, 38. 
Top, length and weight of, y. 
Top markets, the foreign, 21. 
Tops, allowance for regain in, 60, 

78. 
Tops, how they will be sold, 77. 
Tops, imports of, 26. 
Tops, tariff on, 27. 
Tops, what they are, ix. 
Tops, why bought not made, 18. 
Townend, Walter, 81 ; letter from, 

65. 
Townsend, James, 127. 

Underwear, knitted, 9 ; yarns for, 
117. 

Uneven conditions in wool scouring, 
43. 

Uniformity of stock, 108. 

United States, early woolen manu- 
facture in, 17. 

United States, genesis of worsted 
manufacture in, 1. 

United States, worsted yarn spin- 
ning in, 72. 

Urine, 41. 

Variation in weight of yarn, 67. 

Ventilation, 34. 

Vickerman, Charles, quoted, x. 

Water, buying, 59. 

Weighing test for hygroscopicity, 
66. 

Weight curve and humidity, 69. 

Women's and children's dress goods, 
117. 

Wool, absorption of moisture by, 58. 

Wool, characteristics of, 42. 

Wool, Chevreul's analysis of, 44. 

Wool clip, increase of (footnote), 17. 

Wool combers, the early, f-'8. 

Wool, hygroscopic property of, 57. 

Wool oil, uses of, 53. 

Wool, processes of cleansing defec- 
tive, 40. 

Woolen manufacture, the, 9 ; sta- 



INDEX tistics of, 8 ; specialization of, 

93. 

World's Columbian Exposition, 121. 

Worsted machinery, American, 10. 

Worsted manufacture, specializa- 
tion of, the, 13. 

Worsted manufacture, statistics of 
the English, 8. 

Worsted mills, American, statistics 
of, 17. 

Worsted yarn, difficulty of making 
perfect, 85. 

Worsted yarn spinning in the United 
States, 71. 

Yarn spinning in England and the 
United States, 72. 



Tarns, allowance for regain in, 60. 

Yarns, alpaca, 119. 

Yarns, cotton, 119. 

Yarns, for bicycle tire cloth, 119. 

Yarns for sale, 119. 

Yarns for sale, manufacture of be- 
gun, 23. 

Yarns, genapped, 119. 

Yarns, lustre, 119, 120. 

Yarns, mercerized, 120. 

Yarns, merino, 120. 

Yarns, mohair, 119. 

Yarns, wools used in making 
worsted, 118. 

Yarns, worsted, 118. 

Yorkshire, humidity of, 72. 

Yorkshire, top mills of, 16. 




